Shaquille O’Neal, who’s built a $400 million fortune, once shockingly fell prey to an investment scam

Shaquille O'Neal, who's built a $400 million fortune, once shockingly fell prey to an investment scam

Shaquille O’Neal has built up a massive $400 million net worth, but even he’s made some mistakes with his money in the past.

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 fell victim to a scam

Shaq has changed a lot in his business model. At first, he was new to the game, and he couldn’t figure out exactly what he was supposed to invest in.

He went more by instinct than by research. He even claimed that he fall victim to those ‘invest $1 million now, get $3 million in a year’ claims.

“I lost a lot of money in the get-rich-quick schemes,” he said. And then, he mentioned that his worst investment was in a paper company which turned out to be a scam.

“It turned out to be a scam,” he noted bluntly.  “If someone said give me a million and in three years, it’ll be $10 million — deals like that, I would take every time. … No research, no due diligence.”

Shaq has come a long way from there, and he’s followed the lead of big time businessmen including Jeff Bezos. “I heard the great Jeff Bezos say, ‘If you invest in stuff that’s going to change people’s lives, most of the time, you’ll win,’” Shaq said.

“I learned early that when I stopped thinking about the payouts, I’ll always be successful.”

Also Read: $400 million worth Shaquille O’Neal has just bought a “70 foot dinosaur”, that moves and drinks

Post Edited By: Arjun Julka
Los Angeles Lakers NBA Shaquille O'Neal

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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