Shaquille O'Neal, the king of franchises: 155 burger joints, 40 gyms and a fortune of 400 million

Those attending last February's International Franchise Association conference in San Diego were surprised to discover that the gathering's speakers included former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal.

“I learned from the great Magic Johnson that it's okay to be a basketball star, but at some point you want to start investing in businesses,”

O'Neal told CNBC during the event.

Gone is the 21-year-old athlete who spent his first million in a single day, after signing with the Orlando Magic in 1992. Thanks to his 19 seasons as a professional athlete and his investments in different restaurant franchises and fast food, among other businesses, O'Neal now has a net worth of $400 million (just under €380 million).

He is one of the five richest players in the NBA, only preceded by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Junior Bridgeman and Lebron James, who boasts a network of one billion.

“The franchise is a simple model.

If it works, you follow the rules and it will continue to work.

If you stick to the values ​​you've learned, you can't go wrong.”

This philosophy has made O'Neal, who has an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate in Education, into the king of franchising.

“It's just something to have on my resume for when I get back to reality.

One day I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-5 schedule like everyone else,” the player said at his graduation ceremony a decade ago.

Since he announced his retirement in 2011, the NBA star became the owner of 155 Five Guys hamburger establishments, which represented 10% of the total company.

(He would later sell the franchises.) O'Neal also owns 17 Auntie Anne's Pretzels restaurants and has invested in nine Papa John's restaurants.

Time for a pizza party!

I'm excited to join @PapaJohns as a member of the Board of Directors and investor in 9 stores in #Atlanta.

Excited to work with Papa John's team members and customers - more here: https://t.co/PRXG7ORtFk pic.twitter.com/c5uj5BRuQ1

– SHAQ.SOL (@SHAQ) March 22, 2019

In addition to putting his money into 150 car washes, 40 24-hour gyms and a movie theater in his native Newark, he also runs his own fast food chain.

In 2018, I founded the Big Chicken brand of chicken sandwiches.

With more than 10 establishments in the city of Las Vegas, the businessman is looking to expand to other American cities such as Austin and Phoenix.

The franchise's chicken sandwiches also now appear on the menus of the Carnival cruise company, of which he calls himself the “Chief Fun Officer.”

His passion for food has even led to a recipe book that he published in early April.

With a cover featuring burgers, brownies and fried chicken,

advertises “championship recipes for feeding family and friends.”

He says in the text that he wanted to call the book “recipes for dummies” and that he opted for simple recipes from his childhood: “Things I love to eat, places I've been, people I love, things I believe in and some of my best inventions,”

he writes, referring to the Big Chicken recipes.

Believe in business and follow your instinct

As he has stated in interviews, the four-time NBA championship winner has always known that money came to him easily and could evaporate just as quickly.

According to a study published in

, 60% of former NBA players go bankrupt five years after retirement.

Figures like Dennis Rodman or Scottie Pippen number among them–but not Shaq.

When the player retired from the NBA, he had earned more than $292 million (€277 million) in salary, in addition to another $220 million (€209 million) in sponsorships and advertisements for brands such as Oreos, Pepsi and Reebok.

But before he said goodbye to the courts, O'Neal had already made his big investment: buying Google stock.

“I heard two people talk about a search engine and how it works and they offered me to invest in it, and I bet on it,” he would explain in 2019 in an interview with

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DR.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL Ed.D.

(@shaq)

In the same interview, the athlete confessed that his success as an entrepreneur is based on never investing in or advertising for a company whose products he would not use himself.

“My skill is that if something comes my way and I don't believe in it, I don't even waste time looking,” O'Neal explained.

The athlete gives the example of with his rejection of the offer he received from the Wheaties cereal company, which offered for him to appear on their boxes.

He refused because he preferred the competition: Fruity Pebbles, whose boxes would later feature his image of him.

He admits, though, that following his instincts has not always worked for him.

The DJ, actor and basketball talk show host recalled how one of his biggest business regrets was not doing business with the CEO of Starbucks.

“My agent called me and said, 'Howard Schultz wants to do business with you,'” explained the player, who had grown up in a family that mainly drank sweet tea and hot chocolate.

“My idea was that black people did not drink coffee,” added O'Neal, who rejected the offer to open franchises of the famous company in predominantly African-American communities.

“I told him, 'Black people don't drink coffee, sir, I don't think it's going to work.'

And you should have seen the look on his face of him. ”