A controversial conspiracy theory reportedly led Shaquille O’Neal to lose a $20 million deal.
O’Neal has a track record of hitting gold in business. It’s why he has supposedly amassed $500 million, per Celebrity New Worth.
Some of his wise moves include his Big Chicken restaurant franchise, which can be found in California, Nevada, New York, Texas, Washington, and on the seas thanks to two Carnival Cruise ships, a press release notes. Most recently, Big Chicken celebrated its grand opening in the Dallas, TX, area in Fort Worth, now marking its fifth franchise location in Texas.
One can also look to his success in the investment world. He invested in Google and unintentionally struck gold. In fact, it was by “accident” that he even invested in the tech company. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he spoke with a prominent investor who was talking about Google at the Four Seasons.
The conversation led to a meeting, which allowed him to make a more informed decision and invest in the company. He ended up making a great return on the investment, although the amount was not disclosed.
“The newspaper told me how much I made and I couldn’t believe how much I made,” he mentioned, per TechCrunch.
O’Neal also struck gold as an investor in Ring, a smart doorbell company founded by Jamie Siminoff. O’Neal reportedly invested $ 1 million and received equity compensation in exchange for promoting the Ring camera, according to Money Wise.
Ring was later acquired by Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos when it was valued at $1 billion, Business Insider notes.
While these are just a snapshot of O’Neal’s moves, he did miss out on one opportunity that could have been a good business deal. While he does not specify the name of the company, he mentioned during a podcast interview on Complex’s “GOAT Talk” alongside his son Myles that a $20 million deal slipped through his portfolio due to a controversial take about Earth.
“I said the earth was flat one time, and I lost a f–king big deal on that ’cause the haters, it was like 500,000 hate mail,” he said on the podcast. “They said ‘Man, we can’t.’ Big deal like $20 million. I’m not going to elaborate on it, but when I was young, I studied the JFK assassination. I went to the Book Depository in Dallas. I’ve studied it. I’m not going to give you my theory on what I think happened because it’s a real serious topic, but the fact that there’s more than 50 different theories it just makes it a even bigger conspiracy theory.”
