Being the best centre of his generation, with an Olympic gold medal and four NBA rings to his name, is not enough. Nor is it enough to remain one of the most recognisable and popular basketball players of all time, helped by a playful personality that has made him a natural television presence. Shaquille O’Neal is also a wealthy businessman. Quite apart from everything else, his finances would be substantial anyway: almost $300 million earned over the course of his career, plus a current deal with American broadcaster TNT Sports worth another $15 million a year. Then there is another $16.5 million to add to the total. And that is easily the most unexpected part.
It all goes back to 1999, to a conversation between two guests at a luxury hotel, overheard by a third — Shaq himself. The former Lakers centre was having lunch at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles when he got talking to some fellow diners. One of them, grateful for the superstar’s easygoing manner even away from the spotlight, told him: “I want to tell you about a company called Google.” O’Neal did the best thing he could have done: he listened. The young men explained how search engines worked, and what might lie ahead for a sector that was still largely unexplored. “Sounds great,” Shaq said. After a brief meeting with the company’s executives, he decided to invest $250,000 in Google. At the time, the company was worth just $100 million.
It was still a significant sum, even by the standards of the time and even for a basketball player like O’Neal. Then he carried on playing for more than another decade, winning again in Los Angeles and Miami. His career became so crowded with bigger moments that some of the side stories faded into the background. So did that investment. Literally. Until a few years ago, Shaq had completely lost track of what had happened to his $250,000. Then he found out. It had grown to $16.5 million. And he discovered it almost by chance. “My only regret is that I didn’t invest more.” Though perhaps it is best not to push your luck.
Luck and timing, certainly. But O’Neal has always kept a close eye on business, particularly when it comes to innovation. “I once went to a Jeff Bezos conference and heard him talk about the importance of investing in things that will change people’s lives. It really stuck with me. From then on, I started applying that idea to my portfolio as well, and it worked wonderfully for me.” So perhaps there is something to be learned from O’Neal beyond basketball, whether by design or sheer good fortune. And while almost six in ten former NBA players reportedly find themselves on the verge of bankruptcy within a few years of retirement because of poor financial decisions, O’Neal has gone the other way. A sizeable portion of his wealth, it is worth remembering, goes towards charitable causes supporting disadvantaged children. It would not have been quite so sizeable without that early bet on Google.