How Many Businesses Does Shaq Own? Shaquille O’Neal entered the NBA league back in 1992 and immediately became one of the game’s biggest superstars. Making the All-Star team in his rookie season, O’Neal got the attention not just from the fans but from the sponsors as well. His funny personality brought him many deals outside the basketball court and since then he has become one of the most successful players off the court.

Shaq has been retired for a whole decade now but he still earns a lot of money based on the investments he has made.

Shaq recently blew the internet away with a small sneak peek of his extensive financial portfolio. The 49-year-old revealed during a recent appearance on the financial literacy podcast “Earn Your Leisure” with financial advisor Rashad Bilal and educator Troy Millings, that his business dealings involve a lot more than making commercials.

How Many Businesses Does Shaq Own?

O’Neal — who following a very successful basketball career made a name for himself by bagging a seemingly endless list of endorsement deals from brands such as The General, Gold Bond, Icy Hot, Buick, etc. — shared that he owns quite a few notable businesses of his own.

“I don’t like to seem like I’m bragging, but I’m going to ask you a question. Who owns Marilyn Monroe,” the former basketball star asked the two hosts, report “Playboy,” Millings responded. “Who owns Elvis Presley? Who owns Forever 21?” O’Neal continued. “Who owns JCPenney? Me!”

Although the father of five and stepfather of one did not clarify what percentage of these brands he owned or whether he’d bought outright, he went on to explain that owning brands is his main business.

“My real business is I own 50 brands,” O’Neal explained. “So, when I was retiring, I’m looking around, I’m like ‘How does Michael Jackson and all these guys live forever?’ So, one of the chapters in the book, joint venture-ship. So, I called the three companies, Authentic brand group, Simon property group, and Brookfield property partners that helped people live forever, and they bought my brand for a lot of money. So, I took half that money, put it back in the company, now I’m the number two guy in the company.”

The Hall of Famer added that although he could’ve easily sold his brand and likeness that he worked so hard to build, that would give investors the right to do as they please and potentially push him to the background.

“I put money back in the company, and now I own all those other brands, so if Shaq ever goes away, sh-t, we still got Elvis,” he said.

According to NBC Sports, O’Neal’s estimated net worth is said to be $400 million. He is the joint owner of 155 Five Guys Burgers restaurants, 17 Auntie Annie’s Pretzels restaurants, 150 car washes, 40 24-hour fitness centers, a shopping center, a movie theater, and several Las Vegas nightclubs.

Speaking to Front Office Sports, O’Neal explained that money is not his main motivation when it comes to making investments. “I make investments, not for the monetary reasons, but… if it’s going to change people’s lives — and if I see people enjoy doing it,” he said.

The basketball star-turned-businessman added that he intends to keep his total earnings private since his “mom really doesn’t like articles like that. It feels like bragging.” He did, however, talk about one venture that he’s excited about: esports.

“One day I had the children and my boys said, ‘Dad, take us to the Staples Center!'” O’Neal recalled. “As soon as I turn the corner, it’s screaming kids, watching some other kids play video games. I never even heard of esports. But 60,000 kids jumping up and down, louder than a basketball game, I knew that this right here, it was going to be the future. I knew it then, I know it now: esports is still one of the fastest-growing industries and it just appeals to so many people.”

Reebok

Reebok recently has revived its relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, who had been one of the brand’s early ambassadors. The brand was purchased by Authentic Brands Group, which has partnered with the athlete for several years, earlier this year for 2.1 billion euros.

The Boston-based sports brand will unveil the next iteration of its Courting Greatness campaign celebrating the careers of both O’Neal and another Reebok partner, Allen Iverson. The digital campaign empowers consumers to create playable basketball spaces where they may not exist. Using the camera and measurement features in mobile phones, the Courting Greatness digital tool enables users to map out the dimensions of a court, including a free throw line, 10-foot hoop, three-point line, and more.

To promote the latest campaign, Reebok partnered with Philadelphia-born visual artist Gianni Lee and Los Angeles-based artist Rick Dove to construct custom, playable court installations in their home cities. Philadelphia and Los Angeles were selected for the installations, as they were home to Iverson and O’Neal, respectively, during their greatest achievements as professional basketball players. Both artists used upcycled materials to construct their custom courts.

Shaquille O’Neal once had his sights set on owning Reebok. Now, with the news of the brand’s sale to Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the former NBA athlete is one step closer to that dream.

O’Neal has owned shares in ABG since 2015 when he sold the rights to his name brand to the company. On Thursday, the company behind dozens of brand and retailer acquisitions, including Forever 21, Barneys New York, and J.C. Penney, entered into an agreement to buy the Reebok brand from Adidas. The mostly cash deal is worth 2.1 billion euros, or about $2.5 billion at current exchange, and is set to close in Q1 of 2022.

O’Neal’s own history with Reebok began in 1992 when he signed a multiyear year deal with the brand worth $15 million. Through this partnership, he launched a series of sneakers, including the popular Reebok Shaq Attaq.

In recent years, O’Neal has vocalized his desire to purchase Reebok through his partnership with ABG.

In June 2019, amid rumors of Adidas’ plans to divest the Reebok brand, O’Neal said that he felt that Adidas had “diluted [the brand] so much to where it’s almost gone.”

Papa John’s

In June 2019, O’Neal announced he was joining Papa John’s board of directors and investing in nine Atlanta-based locations. The move came just over a year after the company’s founder, John Schnatter, resigned as chairman for using a racial slur during a conference call. O’Neal has also replaced Schnatter in the brand’s ads.

“We came in when Schnatter made the big mistake,” O’Neal tells CNBC Make It on Monday night at Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year award event in New York City.

Ever since, Schnatter — who started the pizza brand in a broom closet in his father’s tavern in 1984 and helped it grow to nearly 3,000 restaurants in 49 states and 20 international markets — has been making headlines for controversial statements regarding the company.

In October the same year, Schnatter told FOX Business that no one on the board knows anything about pizza, and franchises are under “a lot of duress” because the unit economics are not healthy.

What’s more, in November, Schnatter told Fox affiliate WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky, that he believes the company’s new management has changed his famous pizza recipe.

“I’ve had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days, and it’s not the same pizza, it’s not the same product,” Schnatter told WDRB.

Both O’Neal and Papa John’s CEO Rob Lynch deny the recipe has changed.

“Never. There is no change,” O’Neal says. “Sometimes people don’t know when to keep their mouths shut,” he added in response to Schnatter’s series of accusations.

“I’m not going to go back and forth with this guy. It doesn’t matter what he has said about me. I don’t care. I’m on a mission to make [Papa John’s] the No. 1 brand.”

Buick

One of Shaq’s best endorsements is still as funny today as it was in 2012 when it first aired on national TV.

Shaq never minds looking a little silly. On the court, he was a force; off the court, he was a big, lovable, goofball. Never was his willingness to make fun of himself more obvious than when he played a genie in the film Kazaam. While the movie didn’t lead to any major deals, but it likely helped him collect a few endorsements, including a memorable one he did for Buick.

One of Shaq’s most hysterical endorsements was one he did for Buick. The company’s goal was to show the Buick LaCrosse’s spacious interior, especially compared to popular hybrids. It was a pretty clever commercial featuring some clever lines. It allowed Shaq to show off his laidback sense of humor. One of the best lines from the ad was that Shaq’s owns shoes were bigger than the hybrids.

Still, the idea that Shaq could fit inside a Buick LaCrosse was ridiculous. The footage of Shag sitting inside the vehicle was laughable. Not only was the seat pushed back as far as it’d go, but it was also reclined. The former NBA player’s legs looked undoubtedly cramped — a claustrophobic sight.

When the advertisement aired, Shaq stayed relatively quiet about the endorsement. One of the few times the NBA player spoke about it was when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel. The episode featured a “Mean Tweets” segment. One fan commented on how Shaq didn’t fit in a Buick.

You’ve got to give Shaq credit. He knows how to roll with the situation. Instead of getting defensive, he simply replied in a deadpan voice that he wasn’t sure what the comment meant. It was classic Shaq and nearly as funny as the advertisement.

Shaq Soda

He teamed up with an Arizona beverage maker to create a low-calorie soda-pop called Soda Shaq, details Buzzfeed. Consumers had a choice of four cream soda flavors. The cans were the color of the soda — blue for blueberry cream, orange for orange cream, pink for strawberries and cream, a light silvery/beige for vanilla cream — they also had a massive image of Shaq’s head printed on them.

He also teamed up with Cadbury to promote a candy bar they’d developed in 1995 that was called Mr. Big. One of the promotions they used was a larger-than-life balloon that was Shaq in his uniform, holding the candy bar.

Hopefully, it won’t be long before Shaq is involved with another fun endorsement deal that involves some advertisements that allow us to temporarily forget our troubles and simply enjoy a good laugh.

Icy Hot

Sanofi Consumer Healthcare and Shaquille O’Neal have been working together for over 18 years. The NBA legend has been the spokesperson for the brand’s Icy Hot pain relief since 2003. Now, Sanofi’s Icy Hot division is partnering with the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation on the charity’s “Comebaq Courts” initiative.

The program refurbishes inner-city public basketball courts that are in need of some TLC. While public basketball courts are decidedly old school, to raise awareness Sanofi and the foundation kicked it a new school, with Icy Hot sponsoring the “Icy Hot x NBA 2k22 Charity Game” on the streaming platform Twitch.

Shaq hosted the event, which reached over 800,000 live viewers. It featured streamers and professional gamers Kristopher London, WNBA star Aerial Powers and Nicholas Amyoony, all of whom promoted the event on their personal social media platforms.

Besides the Twitch event and influencer partnerships, there was a full-court press as well, with a mix of earned, social, paid, and digital ads. Shaq was also interviewed by a variety of major media outlets including “USA Today,” “People TV,” “Yahoo!” and “Sports Illustrated.”

Besides the obvious Shaq connection, Sanofi’s US Consumer Heath head of pain and sleep, Alberto Hernandez, said the Comebaq Courts initiative fits with the brand’s mantra of helping people rise up from the pain, in this case not only physical pain but also the mental pain these kids felt by not having a safe space to meet up and play.