Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is more than just a former NBA player. He is a businessman. Using the wealth he earned during his 19 year career with the league, Shaq has made various lucrative investments and even started a few of his own franchises. While all of them hold a special place in his heart, there is one ‘accidental’ investment that the NBA star places on a higher pedestal than all.

Despite the investment having made some significant dough for the Big Aristotle, he had to give almost all of it up due to a life altering decision.

Shaquille O’Neal Recalls Losing His Google Earnings in His Divorce

A few days ago, the official Youtube Channel of TechCrunch uploaded a video.  It featured Shaquille O’Neal taking the stage during the 2023 edition of TechCrunch Disrupt. He was joined by the CEO Kyle Wallgren in a lively discussion.

During the same, Shaq touched base on his journey of engaging in lucrative investments and financial literacy. He then proceeded to tell the members in the audience how he got involved with a then virtually unknown start up: Google.

Shaq recalled being at a Four Seasons Hotel, enjoying his meal in the afternoon. Across from him sat “four distinguished gentlemen” who were spending some time with their children. A few of those children recognized the then NBA player and proceeded to spend their time with him instead of their parents.

“Basically, I’m doing a babysitting job” said Shaq during the discussion.

Afterwards, one of the “gentlemen” approached the player and introduced him to Google, a company with which he was deeply involved with. Shaq was impressed with what he heard. After a productive official meeting, Shaq proceeded to pour some of his wealth into the company. While Shaq had forgotten about the deal back then, he remembered opening the newspaper one day and seeing just how much returns his investment yielded.

Despite Shaq securing a big score, he didn’t get much time to enjoy his accomplishment.

“Too bad I lost it all in the divorce” said Shaq, while his interviewer and a couple of audience members burst into laughter.

To add to the already laughter-filled moment, the 51-year-old proceeded to ask an ASL expert about how to pronounce “divorce” in sign language. After learning the gesture, Shaq reiterated his earlier statement, replacing the word “divorce” with the hand gesture.

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From this session, the audience members learned two important lessons: ‘Invest early in Google’ and ‘Don’t get divorced’.

Shaq paid over $20,000 a month to Shaunie Henderson

Back in 2002, when Shaquille O’Neal was at the peak of his NBA career, he married his longtime girlfriend Shaunie Henderson. The couple were together for many years and even had 4 children during their time. Five years after the joyous occasion, however, Shaq proceeded to file for divorce. Despite delaying the split proceedings in order to make a final attempt at reconciliation, Shaq and Shaunie eventually went their separate ways in 2009.

During the same, Shaq reached an agreement to pay over $10,000 a month to Shaunie in alimony payments. Furthermore, Shaq was told to pay an additional $10,000 for child support. In total, the divorce cost Shaq over $20,000 a month.

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Even though Shaunie got married in May of last year, the 13 year period definitely left a dent in the former NBA star’s net worth.