Shaquille O’Neal hovered over two children, leaned down and shared a secret.
“Do you know how I made $900 million?’’ he asked in a moment taped three years ago. “Just by listening to my mommy and daddy. Make sure you listen to your parents.’’
Well, boys and girls, it’s slightly more complicated than that, even for a 7-foot-1 basketball legend who pulled off this feat: retire from the sport that helped make you rich and famous, then get even more rich and famous.
TV commercials. Licensing deals. Other partnerships. O’Neal, 14 years removed from his Hall of Fame career that included four NBA championship rings and three Finals MVPs, seems to be cashing in everywhere.
On Wednesday, June 4, Netflix premiered a six-episode docuseries called ‘Power Moves with Shaquille O’Neal’ about the 53-year-old taking over as president of Reebok in 2023. (Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends Productions partnered with Sony Pictures Television on the show.) This week, he will provide commentary during NBA TV’s coverage of Game 1 and Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.
“Shaq’s ubiquity today is unmatched and what makes it even more fascinating is that it’s post-career,’’ Stacy Jones, a marketing expert and CEO of Hollywood Branded, told USA TODAY Sports. “Most athletes peak in visibility during their prime and Shaq totally flipped that script.’’
O’Neal was unavailable for an interview this week, according to his representatives.
Perry Rogers and Colin Smeeton, who have both worked closely with O’Neal for about 20 years, help paint a vivid picture of how O’Neal turned his millions in NBA wages into more millions — and became a household name.
Before O’Neal retired in 2011, Rogers said, he read professional athletes on average lose 4% of the public’s awareness after their playing careers end. “And that freaked me out,’’ Rogers, who once worked as O’Neal’s agent, told USA TODAY Sports.
Also, O’Neal would be losing steady income — his playing salary that earned him a total of $286 million, according to Spotrac.com.
The trick was figuring out how to generate more money.
Shaq’s instincts lead to big bucks
It was July 2011, a month after O’Neal officially retired, and ESPN and TNT (then known as Turner) were courting him as a potential NBA analyst. Rogers said he wanted to wait for offers from both networks and use them as leverage.
Then, O’Neal spoke.
“He goes, ‘Perry, you heard the pitches,’ ” Rogers recalled. “On the one hand, Turner just said that they’re relationship people, that they don’t need me, but they want me. I’m a relationship guy.
“Then you heard (an ESPN executive) say, ‘Hey, I’m the most competitive (expletive) in the world. I’ll build a whole show around you.’ And what that means is if (ESPN) doesn’t beat (TNT), I’m going to be taking the full blame. I’m not going to have time to develop. I don’t have these reps yet.’’
Rogers, who relayed the anecdote to USA TODAY Sports, said he complied with O’Neal’s wishes and promptly negotiated a deal with TNT.
The network’s Emmy-winning ‘Inside the NBA’ studio show proved to be an ideal platform to keep O’Neal visible. He needed time to develop his skills as a TV analyst. He also found the right chemistry working alongside former NBA players Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and six-time Emmy winner Ernie Johnson. The quartet is headed to ABC/ESPN next season and O’Neal has agreed to a contract extention worth more than $15 million a year, according to Front Office Sports.
“One thing that’s great about Shaquille is he lets you manage him,’’ Smeeton told USA TODAY Sports. “But at the same time, he trusts his instincts, and we certainly trust his instincts.’’
Shaq surrounds himself with talent
O’Neal did not treat retirement as an opportunity to take up golf and lounge by the pool.
‘That’s just not the way he’s wired,” said Smeeton, who works day-to-day on the Shaq brand. ‘He’s wired for ‘OK, I still have this drive that made me one of the best players of all time. Now how am I going to apply that to other parts of my business?’ And that was music to our ears.”
Leonard Armato, O’Neal’s first agent, played a key role in helping shape the Shaq brand into a lucrative entity before the two parted ways in 2001 for undisclosed reasons. But without Armato and later without his basketball career, the brand kept booming. Rogers and Smeeton, who began working with O’Neal after the split with Armato, helped refine the Shaq brand.
In 2015, Sports Illustrated published a list of O’Neal’s top 50 endorsements. The full list continues to balloon and includes the likes of Carnival Cruise Line, DraftKings, Hershey’s, Papa John’s and BeatBox Beverages. He also is deeply invested in the food services business, owning more than 30 Big Chicken franchises, which serve some of his childhood favorites. He once owned 155 Five Guys, the burger and fries joint, according to Yahoo Finance.
“Whether during basketball games, NFL games or programming beyond, Shaq has staying power that competes with just about any other celebrity,’’ said Tyler Bobin, senior brand analyst at iSpot.tv, a company that tracks TV and streaming advertising.
With help from the likes of Rogers and Smeeton, the Shaq brand has focused on “the fun business.’’ That’s led to O’Neal serving as an ambassador of fun in a slew of new TV commercials. In a campaign for Carnival Cruise Line, O’Neal plays the role of the company’s CFO — ‘Chief Fun Officer.”
Perhaps their biggest play came a decade ago, when Rogers and Smeeton brokered a deal to sell 51% of the Shaq brand to Authentic Brands Group. O’Neal, in turn, has become the second-largest individual shareholder in the company that owns brands for such luminaries as Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and David Beckham and whose subsidiaries include Champion and Reebok, which Authentic acquired in 2022 at the behest of O’Neal.
Smeeton indicated the partnership with Authentic has helped propel O’Neal toward the $1 billion threshold for lifetime earnings.
“If he’s not already there,’’ said Smeeton, who joined Authentic in 2019, “he’ll be there soon.”
Shaq: ‘My biggest mistake was ruining my family’
The strength of O’Neal’s brand has been tested. By O’Neal himself.
During the most recent episode of his podcast, “The Big Podcast with Shaq,’’ O’Neal referred to the infidelities he has said led to divorce from his ex-wife, Shaunie.
“I am the voice for those that made a lot of mistakes and want to recover from the mistakes,’’ said O’Neal, who has six children, including four with Shaunie. “Because I always say, my biggest mistake was ruining my family by being dumb.’’
There have been other setbacks for O’Neal. Like two civil lawsuits, one stemming from his endorsement of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and another stemming from involvement with the Astrals Non-Fungible Tokens project, which he settled this year for a total of $11 million.
O’Neal and other celebrities were accused of misleading consumers into promoting unregistered securities for FTX and promoting unregistered securities for Astrals.
But the Shaq brand has taken no discernible hit.
Corporate America keeps lining up to partner with O’Neal, who in 2024 played a hands-on role in developing Shaq-a-Licious XL Gummies (cannabis free) with The Hershey Company.
‘He gets involved on a deeper level, and brands love that,” said Jones, the CEO at Hollywood Branded. ‘His involvement isn’t just about exposure, it’s about strategic value. He shows up, he promotes and he often contributes behind the scenes. That’s a big reason why brands keep coming back.”
O’Neal also has protected his business interests by steering clear of controversial political issues, said Kimberly A. Whitler, associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia.
“That model – to maximize the number of consumers who support and appreciate the celebrity – requires focusing on creating broad appeal,’’ Whitler told USA TODAY Sports. “They do this by remaining largely apolitical, so they can appeal to liberals, independents, and conservative consumers.’’
Shaq building his empire off Michael Jordan’s blueprint – with one exception
Michael Jordan is the blueprint when it comes to athletes developing brands, Jones said.
“He took his athletic legacy and elevated it into a luxury brand and that quiet, high-end exclusivity plays perfectly into his legacy,’’ she said.
O’Neal has embraced something else: the common man.
New Air Jordan sneakers can cost upwards of $200. O’Neal’s branded shoes on Shaq.com are available for $29.95.
Rather than attempting to mimic Jordan’s luxury brand, O’Neal’s Big and Tall Collection is housed at JCPenney, with ribbed Polo shirts available for $17.49. Then there’s his deal with The General, the insurance company known for affordable car insurance rates.
“I called Shaquille and said, ‘Hey, look, we’re talking to these folks. I don’t know how you feel about it,’ ” Rogers aid. “And Shaquille goes, ‘Do it.’ (I said), ‘Hold on a second. I haven’t talked to you about anything. Why do you like this?
“And he said, ‘I had The General for my insurance company. I know what it means to need affordable insurance.’ ”
Sometimes, with the cameras rolling and without, O’Neal has given away pizzas, shoes, clothes and hugs. He has bought other people vans, engagement rings and heaven only knows what else.
In 2024, he received the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award for raising millions of dollars for charitable efforts through the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation.
Last month, at the end of the last episode of ‘Inside the NBA’ on TNT, O’Neal told the show’s stage manager “we put our money together and bought you a gift.’’ He handed her a Louis Vuitton gift bag.
Said Barkley, “Shaq, in fairness, you should buy all the gifts. You got the most money.’’
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
