Making $100 million is not supposed to look so easy but Shaquille O’Neal somehow does it. Mid-2023, he was still a $400 million rich multi-hyphenate and significantly more successful than multiple retired pros. He kept up his usual grind, and it was effective enough to boost his net worth to a cool $500 million in 2024. In less than a year, Shaquille O’Neal is at the halfway point of his idols Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson’s status. O’Neal’s co-host Kenny “The Jet” Smith takes a comfortable approach of using his off-time from TNT to coach youth teams. Meanwhile, Charles Barkley claims he doesn’t need to earn more money. That’s not enough for Shaq, though.

Shaq too, claims he’s at a point he doesn’t need more money. He, however, has so many things he wants to do that he won’t stop. They also happen to make him big bucks. Despite the uncertainty of his TV job, O’Neal spent the past year running his own money show.

Shaquille O’Neal’s Reebok reclamation

Shaquille O’Neal’s fortunes seemingly looked up when he returned to Reebok. He walked away from a $40 million deal in 1998 when he was making nine figures in the NBA. After earning $292 million and nearly its equivalent in commercials and other ventures, O’Neal induced Authentic Brands Group to acquire Reebok from Adidas in 2021. He set the stage for his and Allen Iverson’s return as the president and vice-president of Reebok basketball with this. TNT was still preparing for the NBA media rights negotiation at that time.

Shaq had sold over 100 million pairs of his affordable shoe line through Walmart at this point. But under Iverson and Angel Reese, he intends to make Reebok Nike’s biggest rival again. He’s brought his son Shareef into the fold and debuted Reebok’s first basketball performance shoe, The Reebok Engine A. He also launched a basketball shoe under $40 under his own brand.

Other than reliving the glory of the brand’s first signature athlete, Shaq benefits financially, too. He’s the second largest shareholder of Authentic Brands Group, that was valued at $20 billion last year. It handles all of Shaq’s licenses too, like DJ Diesel’s new Fortnite venture.

So all of Shaq and Authentic’s combined campaigns for Reebok, JC Penney, Forever21, and more make the NBA legend a pretty penny. Not surprisingly, Shaq’s net worth saw a significant update after Reebok. It wasn’t his only meal ticket, though.

Chicken and Candy make Shaq a rich guy

The Inside Guys’ contracts were up for negotiation in 2022. He’d sign a similar contract to Barkley, with TNT – 10 years for an estimated $10 million annual salary. In 2023, he’d bring back The Big Podcast too, this time on the NBA on TNT channels. Then Turner was locked out of the NBA’s $76 billion new deal despite Shaq’s best efforts to draw sponsors. That’s not all he’s doing outside the Turner sphere, though.

In 2021, O’Neal and his partners at JRS Hospitality brought in Josh Halpern and turned Big Chicken Shaq into a franchise business. He still owns the Las Vegas and original locations since 2018 and is often present in the store whenever he’s in those cities.

Meanwhile, he went to Philadelphia to sign a deal with Hershey’s to launch Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies and develop 300+ Big Chicken stores nationwide. From the initial development stages in 2023, 2024 saw multiple Big Chicken restaurants open in Michigan, Texas, arenas like Chicago Sky’s Wintrust Arena, and even a San Diego naval base.

An all-round entertainer

Barkley relaunched Round Mound Media to have more creative control in show development. TNT is a partner this time but Chuck was mad they didn’t give a push sooner. Simultaneously, Shaq’s Jersey Legends Productions produced Queen of Basketball, The Money Game, Lucky13, and has more in development. Remember, Shaq does stock and endorsement deals. It’s Jersey Legends that produces his commercials for Papa John’s and IcyHot.

O’Neal and his partners at Jersey Legends and Authentic have a lot more in the works – Shaq’s Fun House, Shaqtober, Shaq’s Bass All-Stars, and more. Between this, he’s also been filming his big debut on Gravesend and recording EDM and rap tracks on the fly.

Shaq claims he loses money on his DJ gigs. And perhaps on his recent investments too. Since getting a huge return on his Google investment in the ’90s, O’Neal is back in the tech space through Edsoma, Ring, Lyft, and some secret squirrel deals he doesn’t like to talk about. But most often, they’re for philanthropic reasons and he’s not looking for profits. They could still bring him revenue within the year too and it might take less than a year to make the next $100 million.