Not long ago Shaq confessed he wanted to be in the same realm as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Through savvy business moves, Shaquille O’Neal has a $500 million net worth. Though he insists he doesn’t count his money, he could be a billionaire soon too because of his smart deals with giants like Papa John’s. After stepping down from the board, he brought back the Shaq-A-Roni. But he remains quite wealthy in the pizza biz thanks to Papa John’s.

Big Diesel and Papa John’s upped their holiday campaign. This time, the giant dished, “How Shaq got Pizza Rich QUICK…” Not Jordan-rich. Not Richie Rich. Pizza-rich. With a little financial lesson from his genuine experiences (a lot like his financial literacy campaign with The General), Shaq’s signature humor, and a healthy sprinkle of pizza puns, O’Neal promoted Papa John’s rewards system in the way he does best.

After the interviewer asked the titanic spokesperson how he got ‘pizza rich,’ Shaq dropped the first pun. “I just hustled my way to the dough.” Where’s the lie? He even dropped his new nickname we never knew about. “Shaquille Dough’ Neal.” That will take a while to stick.

He gave a brief breakdown of the rewards system to say, “and I’m a pizzanaire baby!” By Shaq math, he gets $2 for every $15 he spends at Papa John’s. They accumulated enough to make him a ‘pizzanaire.’

He was also asked for a ‘pizza’ advice (pun intended) he’d give his younger self. It’s authentic pizzanaire Shaquille O’Neal when he says, “Don’t listen to the haters. The best revenge is a pizza [piece of] success.”

He’s got the whole pie of success, though. Shaq’s a bona fide millionaire with the other dough and close to a dream.

Shaq’s hungry for success

Though his friends claim that he’s already there, Shaq still holds on to the dream of being in league with his mentors, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. “I want to be on that Forbes list… Because when I seen the article, I was like… ‘Well, I gotta be number one, two, or three. I wasn’t in that thing at all.’ I’m like, ‘Damn. I shoot 100 commercials a month.’ I had to call my accountant. ‘You sure you ain’t stealing from me’… He said, ‘No, you worth this much,‘” he said recently.

Pizzanaire mogul, Diesel, is at the halfway point. And as he advised the younger generation, “Pizza is a mindset. Gotta stay hungry,” he’s done exactly that.

In his post-NBA life, he’s grown as a multi-preneur. Among his many business ventures, he has been a Papa John’s franchisee. He was invited to the pizza empire’s board of directors to lead their community outreach in 2019. With that, he launched the Shaq-a-roni, an XL-sized pepperoni pizza. Proceeds from this seasonal item go towards Papa John’s and the NBA legend’s philanthropic efforts. And apart from the Papa John’s points he collects, Shaq gets a $0.20 royalty for every Shaq-a-roni sold.

Shaquille O’Neal is walking the clear path to gain a ‘pizza success.’ Who’s dough-ing it like him?!