By: Vivek Nair Image credit: NBA and Twitter
Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal opened up in an interview on “Be Better Off Show”, about paying for 15 of his friends to earn their master’s degrees.
Being a businessman, Shaq used to attend a number of meetings where he observed that people would only talk to his representatives because they didn’t think that he understood the language of business.
“I noticed that every time I go to a business meeting, the guys we’re doing deals with will be like, ‘Hello Shaq, how are you doing?’ and then they would turn away and look at my lawyers, accountants, and all those guys." said O'Neal.
To prove them wrong. O'Neal went ahead and applied for his master’s degree at the University of Phoenix.
“The University of Phoenix is an online program mostly,” O'Neal continued “But I went to the head officials and said, ‘I don’t want to do it online. I want somebody to teach me in a class."
Unfortunately, they couldn't set up a whole classroom for just one person; they needed at least 15 people. So O'Neal went ahead and paid for 15 of his friends to get their masters.
During the interview, he also disclosed that he wanted to be a lawyer so that he could set up a law firm in Atlanta.
O'Neal has a net worth of $400 million and owns several Big Chicken restaurants in Las Vegas, along with 100 car washes and 40 24-hour fitness centers.