Shaquille O'Neal is a rich man. But he could've been Michael Jordan rich had his business sense kicked in.
O'Neal had the opportunity to become heavily involved in the Starbucks franchise but turned it down, complex.com reported.
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O'Neal appeared on the premiere of "In Depth With Graham Bensinger" and talked about his miss with the coffee giant after meeting with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, according to Complex.
"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,'" O'Neal said 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 ... all right. We're still good friends today, but that was one of my worst business decisions."
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Fortunately for O'Neal, he made $292 million during his 19-year NBA career, highlighted by his three titles with the Lakers, and nearly the same amount from endorsements, according to therichest.com. His net worth is $350 million.
According to Complex, O'Neal talked about his Starbucks fiasco in his 2011 book, "Shaq Uncut," in which he told Schultz he didn't drink coffee.
"The truth was," he wrote, "I'd never seen black people drink coffee. I thought it was a white person's drink."
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