SHAQUILLE O’Neal has expanded his fortune since ending his illustrious basketball career.

The four-time NBA champion, 52, earned $286 million in player salary during his 18 years in the league.

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Shaquille O’Neal has made several shrewd investmentsCredit: Getty
Off the court, Shaq has made a series of shrewd investments.

Among his best gambles was an early investment in Google, with the search engine worth $258bn as of last December.

The legendary center has also put money into the likes of Apple, Krispy Kreme and home security company Ring.

O’Neal is estimated to have a net worth of around $500m.

In 2019, the former Los Angeles Lakers star claimed that he had quadrupled his net worth.

“I heard Jeff Bezos say one time [that] he makes his investments based on if it’s going to change people’s lives,” O’Neal told The Wall Street Journal.

“Once I started doing that strategy, I think I probably quadrupled what I’m worth.”

Even if a company has strong financial figures, O’Neal won’t be convinced to invest if he doesn’t like the product.

“Whenever I do business, it’s not about the money,” he added.

Despite his successes, O’Neal’s approach hasn’t come without the occasional mistake.
‘I was lost and wasn’t prepared’ NBA icon Shaq admits before new career in retirement which gave ‘adrenaline boost’
In particular, the former No.1 pick of the Orlando Magic missed out on acquiring a piece of Starbucks.

“When Howard Schultz wanted to do business with me, I looked at the deal and said, ‘Black people don’t drink coffee,’” O’Neal revealed. “I was wrong.”

When O’Neal wanted to purchase home security, he turned to Ring.

So impressed by the service, he decided to invest in the company.

New rights deal

The NBA signed an 11-year deal with three networks for the league’s rights from the 2025-26 season.

And there will be no games on TNT for the first time since the network launched in 1988.

The Walt Disney Company will continue to show the league with 80 regular-season games across ESPN and ABC.

They will also show around 18 playoff games from the first and second round, a Conference Finals series for 10 of the 11 years, and remain the home of the NBA Finals.

NBC will return as an NBA broadcaster for the first time since 2002.

The network will show up to 100 games per season across it’s channels and Peacock streaming service.

It will also be the home of NBA All-Star and show approximately 28 playoff games from the first and second round.

NBC will show one Conference Finals Series for six of the 11 years, rotating with new broadcaster Amazon Prime.

Amazon will show 66 NBA regular-season games including one on Black Friday.

The streaming service is also the home of the latter stages of the NBA Cup and the entire Play-In Tournament.

Prime will also broadcast around one third of the playoff games in the first and second round.

It proved to be a shrewd move, with Amazon buying Ring for $1bn five years ago.

Alongside his investments, O’Neal makes a sweet living from his NBA analyst work for TNT.

The network has managed to keep its “Inside the NBA” team together, after agreeing to license out the show to ESPN starting next season.

Last month it was reported that O’Neal will pocket in excess of $15m per season as part of the lucrative deal.

The popular broadcaster had reportedly been in talks with new rights holders Amazon Prime Video regarding a potential switch.

But he eventually signed on the dotted line to stay alongside pals Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.