More than a year ago, Papa John’s paid Shaquille O’Neal $4.1M and gave him 90,000 shares of stock to endorse the brand, become a board member, and own nine stores as a franchisee. The pizza company recently reported a same-store sales jump of almost 27%, making Shaq’s stock holding alone worth $7M, according to Darren Rovell.
If his The General Car Insurance commercials are any indication, Shaq is everywhere and Papa John’s is just a portion of his retirement portfolio. The TNT analyst, who made $300M during his playing career, is raking in cash through dozens of investments.
Some of his more notable holdings, according to Money:
- 17 Auntie Anne’s Pretzels franchises
- 40 24-Hour Fitness gyms
- 150 car washes
- 155 Five Guys locations – though he has since sold them
- A Big Chicken restaurant in Las Vegas
- Early stakes in Google and Apple
- Early investor in Ring, which sold to Amazon for $1B
- Sacramento Kings minority ownership
