Shaquille O’Neal lost a $100 million business opportunity to Magic Johnson because of pre-conceived notions

Shaquille O’Neal lost a $100 million business opportunity to Magic Johnson because of pre-conceived notions

Shaquille O’Neal has made some great plays with his money, but there’s one opportunity he wished he cashed in on before Magic Johnson.

The former Lakers legend is currently one of the hosts of the famous ‘Inside the NBA’ segment on ESPN where he finds new and hilarious ways to discuss and analyze the NBA.

There have been countless stories of how Shaquille O’Neal has spent egregious amounts of money at once. He holds the record for the largest purchase in Walmart history amongst other things, and so he holds a reputation for being a big spender.

Shaq’s net worth is enough to cater towards his lifestyle, but it also sometimes makes for some crazy stories. He’s built that net worth through strategic and valuable investments. He makes a great deal of money every year from his businesses, and it’s admirable to see.

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Shaquille O’Neal wished he followed Magic Johnson in his investment plan

Even though Shaq has made many smart decisions with his money, there’s one opportunity which he wished he could have had back.

Back in 1998, Johnson made perhaps one of the biggest and best deals of his post-NBA career. Johnson currently has a company called Magic Johnson Enterprises which specializes in investments, and the Lakers legend made a huge profit off a venture into the coffee company.

Johnson convinced Starbucks owner Howard Schultz to expand his business and convinced him to open 125 stores across the U.S. Now, Starbucks is a major business, and in 2010 when Magic sold his stock, he netted $100 million from the deal.

However, Shaquille O’Neal said that he had the opportunity before Magic did. He had a peculiar reason for why he denied Schultz, but now he deeply regrets his choice.

“My biggest mistake was not investing in Starbucks,” he explained. “I had the opportunity before Magic Johnson but I told Howard Schultz that black people don’t drink coffee because I never seen anyone in my family drink coffee.”

Shaq’s managed to do well for himself without the Starbucks deal, having a net worth of $400 million. However, he could have been $100 million richer if he had just followed Schultz.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
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About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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