After starting his basketball career in 1992, Shaquille O’Neal has become one of the most successful players. While dominating the court with his impressive skills and stature, he also proved that he is great with his finances. While he had some misguided investments initially, DJ Diesel is worth $500 million today. However, there was a point where he faced a financial dilemma, which made him hit the reset button.

As the face of The General Insurance company, Shaq released an episodic series of videos on his YouTube channel. Each episode would deal with finances and how to handle them. The panel of people included Juan Toscano-Anderson, Vivian Tu, Desi Banks, and Julissa Prado. The most recent episode, #3, dealt with “Fresh Start.” This is where Shaq dropped a bombshell admission.

During the episode, Shaq said, “I had to start fresh in 2011. I’m still the Shaq but, I thought I was going to be playing basketball forever. But in 2009 – 2010 other guys started to come in and I started to get older and 2011 when I ended my career had to hit that reset button. Got a job at TNT really focused on business started paying attention.”

According to a report by Bloomberg in 2011, Shaq was ending his career with a salary of $292 million. This excluded all the endorsement deals he had. While he was not in any financial struggles, having struggled during his childhood, he knew better. As a result, Shaq thought hard about his future and his family’s security. As he mentioned, he started working with TNT and focused on investments and making his money work for him. Moreover, his great investment plans have made him millions.

Shaquille O’Neal has investments in multiple big named companies

Did you know that among Shaq’s early investment deals was the fast-food chain Five Guys? At a point in time, he owned 10% of the company, which he sold for a large profit. Since 2019, O’Neal has been the brand ambassador and a board member of Papa John’s restaurant. He is also the spokesperson and investor for Krispy Kreme.

Apart from investing in big chains, he also owns Big Chicken restaurants. He also owned 17 Auntie Anne’s Pretzels joints. While he did sell the chain, it was reported that he made $300k off the deal. On a side note, O’Neal also owns 150 car washes, which he claims to be a great investment.

Among the other brands Shaq has invested in are JC Penny, Forever 21, Reebok, Google, Ring, Apple, and many more. This goes to demonstrate how careful the Orlando Magic icon is with his finances. While hitting the reset button was not that challenging for the big man, it was clear that he didn’t want to end up struggling with a lack of income in the future.