- LIFESTYLE-
Wikipedia
Flickr / Joe Bielawa
Wikipedia
Steve Nash Legendary point guard, Steve Nash, is setting examples for business-minded athletes when they retire. Two-time NBA MVP Nash has said Magic Johnson’ s success in business helped inspire him to want to be great in that realm as well. Nash has built a health-centric portfolio of investments across product lines like juices and supplements, and even owns a stake in Vancouver’ s Major League Soccer club, the Whitecaps. In 2010, he co-founded a venture capital fund called Consigliere Brand Capital, LLC. Consigliere has gone on to invest in a number of hot names, including Contently, Birchbox, and Casper.
Justin Bieber Pop star Bieber is somewhat secretive about the investments he’ s made; he invested in his first startup in 2009, but has not revealed the company’ s name. Since then he has taken a stake in instant messaging app Tinychat, ratings app Stamped, and music streaming service Spotify. Unlike many celebrity investments, the deals are rarely equity-for-endorsement trades. One exception is Shots, a selfie sharing app for which he led a $ 1.1 million seed round. Shots’ s popularity spiked when Bieber started using it to post his own photos. Though its adoption seems to be slow going.
Shaquille O’ Neal The greatest NBA center of his generation, a former rapper and actor, a current basketball analyst on TNT, and he has a doctorate in education, but Dr. O’ Neal is also an extremely savvy investor. Shaq was a pre-IPO investor in Google. He’ s got an equity stake in Five Guys. The man owns forty 24-Hour Fitness locations, a number of car washes, part of a sports drink company, and a few nightclubs. The Big Aristotle disclosed in an interview a few years back that one quote, from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, changed his entire outlook on life and business:“ The greatest of leaders are the ones smart enough to hire people smarter than them.” Dr. O’ Neal seems to have it all figured out now, and in 2014 his agent said he was making more than $ 20 million annually despite being retired.
- 40- FALL / WINTER 2016- ISSUE IV