August 17th 2023.
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, the NBA Hall of Famer, recently revealed that he would be $5.2 billion richer if he had chosen to sign a sneaker endorsement deal with Nike back when he was a young basketball star. In an episode of All The Smoke, Johnson explained that Nike offered him stocks in their fledging company, but he opted for the more immediate money from Converse.
“I was just winning the National Championship against Larry Bird, and three companies came in; Converse, Adidas, and Nike,” Johnson told the former NBA players. “Nike was just a year or two old. Converse offered me the most money. Phil Knight came in and said, ‘Hey, I can’t offer you the same type of money. But I can offer you stock’.”
Coming from a poor background, Johnson wasn’t familiar with stocks. He said that it was the correct decision for him at the time to take the money rather than the stocks.
“My family didn’t come from money. That hurt us sometimes when you don’t come from money. I didn’t even know what stocks was at that time. So, I passed on the stocks. Can you imagine? Forty-five years and $5 billion of stock.”
Although Johnson may regret not choosing Nike, it is undeniable that he has made many wise decisions since then and is one of the most successful athletes-turned-businessmen. He is currently a minority owner of the Washington Commanders.
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