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‘Buying Rockefeller Center for $3.9BN’ – Venus and Serena Williams’ Father Had Once Revealed a Weird Business Plan to Turn His Focus Away From Tennis

Published 07/19/2022, 12:40 PM EDT

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Venus and Serena Williams, apart from achieving heights in tennis, have also made their name in the business world. Both the tennis aces either run or are investors in several mega organizations. From where does the talent come from? The answer is their father, ‘King’ Richard.

The Williams trio, that is Richard Williams and his daughters, Venus and Serena other than harboring tremendous tennis skills and knowledge, also has a sound understanding of business. Further, Richard, who came up with a variety of unique ways of training the duo, once hatched an interesting investment plan.

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Richard Williams, the moneymaker

In the year 1999, after establishing both Serena and Venus in the WTA tours, coach Richard decided to switch modes. Williams toned down the coach and toned up the manager. Though his absence from matches was a nuisance for the former World No.1s, he had adequate reasoning. He said, “Every year I develop three businesses. And every business I develop, I expect to produce anywhere from $10m to $15m a year. The girls get really upset with me because I won’t go. They go, `You the coach’; I say, `No, I’m a manager, too.'”

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“As a matter of fact, we’re thinking about buying Rockefeller Center for $3.9bn. So I don’t have time to even think about tennis no more.” He confessed. Rockefeller center is 22 acres of a complex in Manhattan that consists of 19 commercial buildings.

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Read more: ‘Richard Williams Can Do Anything’ – Venus and Serena Williams’ Father Once Made a Hilarious Claim About Meeting Barack Obama

Further, the arena in New York City’s one of the most iconic attractions. It is famous for its Christmas tree illumination and serves as a platform for the popular Saturday Night Live and Today shows.

Venus and Serena Williams’ recent investments

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The 23 times Grand slam champion has furthered her reach in several domains. A few days back, she entered the food industry with the plant-based product company Just Egg. Williams even took part in Just egg’s ad campaign alongside the famous Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Further, to help black software engineers to grow in the industry, she invested in the company karat. Also, the seven times Wimbledon champion now sits in the board meetings of SurveyMonkey’s parent company, Momentive. And in January, by joining hands with Sorare as their advisor, she infiltrated the market of NFTs.

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Watch this story: Top five best Serena Williams outfits of all time

Speaking of Venus Williams, the seven times Grand Slam champion in February invested in Withco. Withco is a company that empowers small businesses to become property owners by offering a lease-tot-own product.

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Written by:

Mahima Verma

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Mahima Verma is a Tennis writer for EssentiallySports. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Hotel Management from IHM Mumbai. A sports enthusiast, particularly Tennis since her childhood, Mahima believes that she is fortunate enough to witness the legends like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams play.
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Edited by:

Deepakshi Chaudhary