Shaq must be kicking himself over this hasty decision.
We all know the worth of Starbucks but Shaq didn’t think about this back then. Many athletes have been known for filing for bankruptcy once their tenure as athletes has come to an end. Shaq is lucky enough to have a job as an analyst and somehow survived without making any investments back then. Sure endorsements may also pay but there’s nothing like an investment that keeps on giving.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz approached Shaq about investing in Starbucks for African American community and Shaq’s answer will make you laugh.
“So Howard comes and says, ‘Shaq, I wanna give you the opportunity to go in with me and open up these Starbucks franchises in African American communities,'” Shaq says during his interview with Bensinger. “And I’m always the guy that, if I don’t believe in it, I can’t do it. Will never do it. No amount of money can make me endorse something that I’m not 100 percent behind. So I looked in the great Howard Schultz’s face and said, ‘Black people don’t drink coffee, sir. I don’t think it’s gonna work.’ You should have seen his face. He was like…alright. We’re still good friends today, but that was one of my worst business decisions.”
But wait, there’s more.
“The truth was,” he wrote, “I’d never seen black people drink coffee. I thought it was a white person’s drink.”
I’m sure he regrets not winning more championships but not investing in Starbucks must be the biggest regret he has.