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Shaquille O'Neal's enormous net worth of about $350 million doesn't tell the whole story about his wealth. This is a guy who has endorsements, investments, and other monies coming in through every door. He also has quite a bit of secrecy surrounding his assets. There have been numerous reports about his properties being sold to different billionaires. You've probably heard the internet myth about Shaq buying Trump or LeBron James a Rolls Royce Phantom too. Most of these stories end up being false in every way, but they do confuse things. Because of that, we're not going to talk about what Shaq still owns. That information seems to change daily. Instead, we're going to talk about what he has owned—things that we've seen and have been verified.
Maybe you heard the story about Shaq's custom bed. The big man was shopping and took a rest in a Tempur-Pedic bed. He then took to Instagram to show off how ridiculous he looked in the tiny bed made for regular humans. At 7'1" and well over 300 lbs, the Shaq could never dream of sleeping comfortably in those form-fitting beds. In the Insta post, he asked if the Tempur-Pedic crew could make the bed "Shaqsize." They took the challenge. Not long after, Tempur-Pedic responded by delivering a 72" by 98" mattress to Shaq. If you're wondering how that compares, that is a full 14 inches longer than the California King bed. So, that got us thinking. What other oddities does Shaq own and what other weird things has he done in his life? Shaq Has the Biggest Custom-Made Bed: 20 Other Weird Things About His House and Lifestyle.
The Other (Massive) Bed
When Shaq first bought his enormous 76,000-square-foot home, it was one of the biggest celebrity houses ever owned. Although the exact square footage numbers have been disputed, those are the details that Shaq himself gave out. Really, the house is huge and that's all that matters. During an episode of MTV's Cribs, Shaq showed the house off and said
that the main reason he bought it was because of a gigantic bed that came with it.
This is the bed that the custom Tempur-Pedic would be replacing (perhaps putting it in his 7,400-square-foot property outside Atlanta). That bed is 15' by 30', one that Shaq claims is actually the biggest in the world.
The Big Day (Million-Dollar Investment... All Gone The Same Day)
Before Shaq turned pro and signed his first NBA contract, he got his first endorsement deal. Over the years, Shaq has told this story and suggested that it led him to become more money-conscious and business-savvy overall. He still made mistakes with money later in his career (he's only human... or is he?), as we will discuss, but never like this. The endorsement deal he signed was worth $1 million.
The young Shaq was so excited that he spent it all in one day.
In fact, he spent it in less than an hour. He bought three Mercedes cars—one for him, an identical one for dad, and one for mom. Throw in some jewelry and a lot of tax, and the million was gone.
The Cars (That Have To Be Customized)
Although we will mention a few cars specifically, we wanted to address Shaq's standard car customization. With every car he buys, the big man has to shop to put the seats back a minimum of nine inches. In some cases, this completely alters the makeup of the car. Shaq has a jeep, for example, that he had converted from a four-door into a two-door jeep. While they could have left the back seats in all crammed-like, eliminating the backseats and doors entirely made the entire vehicle much more comfortable.
Big Bicycle Has 36 Inch Wheels
DirtySixer is a bicycle manufacturer for large human beings. The bikes typically work for people over 6'6", but Shaq is well over that. He also has the weight and sheer enormity about him that makes it more of a challenge for a bike builder, even ones who specialize in large bikes. Well, they decided to make one for Shaq to show off their skills.
Each of the parts were custom-made and machined.
They added in special detailing and fillet-brazed welding. The final product is pretty remarkable, and Shaq seemed to love it during his trial run. To put it in perspective, the average large-framed bike has a 24-inch wheel and 700C wheel size. Shaq's bike has a 36-inch wheel.
The Monster Truck "F-650 Extreme"
We've seen Shaq arrive to games in a converted Semi truck, so knowing that he has massive vehicles is certainly no surprise. But his enormous pickup truck is impressive still.
His truck is based off an F-650, which is a monster commercial vehicle.
It also comes with a 6.7-liter Powerstroke V-8 engine, capable of putting out 330 horsepower and 750 lbs of torque. This truck, called the F-650 Extreme, was then customized with all the luxury fixings on the interior and made to fit Shaq's extreme-sized body. To see the $125,000 truck next to an F-150 is pretty hilarious.
A Good Tipper When He Gets His Meal Quickly
Throughout his illustrious career, Shaquille O'Neil has been known as a good tipper for good service. He claims that he tells the server up front,
"The quicker I get my food, the better tip you get"
(We surely wouldn't want to take forever to bring the big man his food). This, he says, ensures that he gets his food extremely fast. When it comes time for the tip, Shaq told Jimmy Kimmel in an interview that he asks the server what they want as gratuity. Oftentimes, it's a modest amount. Once, however, a woman server asked for $4,000. Shaq didn't argue and gave her the amount.
Fish Tank In Speakers
When Shaq was young and making money hand over fist in the league, he was flashier than the man he is now. To hear Shaq tell it, the entire NBA was flashier than it is now, but flashy in strange ways. Take for instance Shaq's speaker choice. When everyone was getting huge car stereos and pimpin' their rides Xzibit style, Shaq wanted to up the ante. He had one of his guys go out and make his car speakers into a fish tank. So they did.
They even put some goldfish in the tank and went off the practice,
bumping the speakers the entire way. When they arrived at the practice center, the fish had been killed by the soundwaves. Tragic. Well, after a few fish replacements, Shaq realized that the contraption wouldn't work.
Diesel Semi-Truck Aquarium
As you can see, Shaq loves fish. He really always has. When the guys from Animal Planet's Tanked heard about the big man's love for the animal, they got to work on making Shaq an amazing aquarium that he could show off to his guests. The result was a massive custom tank fitted into the shell of a diesel semi-truck. In the back of the aquarium is a circulating fan to give the image of a car engine, and it even has a working truck horn. The $30,000 tank is definitely eye-catching, but it's not even the most impressive aquarium that Shaq owns.
Shaq-Apulco (Referring To His Backyard)
Shaq-Apulco seems to be a term that Shaq throws around quite a bit. It refers to his backyard, his pool, and even just a name he gives himself when travelling. For this list, we're using the term to refer to his pool and backyard.
Inside Shaq's lavish mansion is an amazing indoor pool, but the backyard setup is much better.
Sure, the indoor lap pool, gym, and steam room is great, but outside, he had the huge pool made to look just like a beach. Surrounding the pool is a lush forest-like paradise that keeps everything secluded.
Jewelry (That He Sometimes Regrets)
According to Shaq, jewelry was one of his weaknesses, especially early on his career. “I spent so much in jewelry. Not classy jewelry. Truck jewelry. Ghetto-rapper jewelry,” he said. While he doesn't regret buying diamonds and chains in general, despite how it made him look, he does have one big regret in regards to his early jewelry purchases.
"I went to a jewelry store one day and bought a pair of earrings for $60,000,"
he said. "And I lost the earrings going from the jewelry store to the car. I went back to the store, and the guy said I walked out with the bag. After that I said I’m never buying crazy jewelry again."
The Three Bentley Cars Purchased Out Of Pride
Sometimes, when you grow up without much and come into massive amounts of money, your pride can get the best of you. That's what happened to Shaq when he was confronted by a salesperson who didn't give him the time of day. “I was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and there’s a Rolls-Royce dealership in Beverly Hills. I always used to ride by it,” he said. “But one day I just went in. Mike Tyson was in there buying a couple of Bentleys. I had on some shorts and a tank top and flip-flops, and I said to the salesman, ‘Sir, how much does this one cost?’ He said,
‘Can you afford it, sonny boy?’
I was so upset that I bought three Bentleys right there on the spot.”
Massive Indoor Basketball Court
The crown jewel of Shaq's massive mansion on the water in Orlando is the Shaq Center.
Of the 76,000-square-foot property, 20,000 square feet are spent on the baseball court and recreational center.
We've seen this place in a few different interviews and tours, and it is incredible. The court is full-sized and has everything you could want or need, including locker rooms, showers, workout room, everything. We do wonder how often the center got used to its full potential. Hell, when Shaq bought this mansion, it was just him. He wasn't married, and he didn’t have kids. Then he split from his wife, so it was just him and his live-in girlfriend for a time.
Investment Mistakes (Including Turning Down Starbucks)
With all the great business decisions that Shaq has made over the years, people find it hard to believe that he's had misses, but he has.
He even turned down a monster deal with Starbucks before the coffee house was even close to as big as it is now.
Shaq says that when he was approached to be an investor and spokesperson for Starbucks, he turned it down because, in his words, "Black people don’t drink coffee." Shaq had this belief because his family and friends growing up didn’t drink coffee. The deal, which was aiming to open up Starbucks in African American communities, went ahead without Shaq. And now, there is one on virtually every corner.
Coin-Operated Car Washes
Even though it may seem like a strange business venture, Shaq was, and still is, the owner of many different coin-operated car washes. His business manager suggested that the basketball star get involved in it, so he did. Back then, Shaq says that he didn't really have the business sense or even the common sense that he does now. Shaq says that he would go down to the car washes and empty out all the change into whatever he could, even sleeping bags in some cases.
He didn't think that the banks took in huge amounts of change, so instead of banking the coins, Shaq would just bring it all home with him.
One day, he got a call from his business manager saying that there was about $200,000 missing from the books. Shaq just told the guy that there was probably that much in quarters sitting in his safe.
The Custom Gallardo
Of all the custom cars that Shaq owns, the custom Lamborghini Gallardo might be the nicest. This car is customized in almost every way.
The doors are larger, the roof and windows are extended, and the seats are pushed back.
In total, the car is about 12 inches longer than the standard editions. George Gaffoglio, the CEO of Gaffoglio, said that they wanted to keep the "visual integrity” of the Gallardo while making it usable. He added, “We relied on our aerospace and coachworks divisions to make sure Shaq could fit in the car, but the naked eye could not detect any differences from the original Gallardo.”
Custom Triangle Aquarium
After the Tanked guys finished making the Diesel Truck tank, Shaq got thinking about what his next aquarium would be like. He would call Animal Planet back and have the guys come in to look at some more work. This time,
Shaq wanted to transform an entire room in his mansion into a tank-focused spot.
The Tanked guys would build for him an 800-gallon tank. It features three separate air pumps and more than 800 lbs of construction and water. The Egyptian theme of the room is cool for now, but we wonder what happens when Shaq gets sick of it.
Burmese Python Snake Tank
We're not exactly sure why Shaq, a man who admits that he is terribly afraid of snakes, has a huge snake tank in his living room. Not only does he have a huge tank, but inside that tank are two Burmese Pythons. These snakes, in case you are unaware, are
some of the largest snakes in the world.
The average size of one of these reptiles is about four meters. While Shaq's appear to be quite young and pretty small compared to the average python, they are still mammoth creatures and terrifying to look at. Imagine having two of them in your home...
The Savvy Investor (Google, FIVE GUYS, And More)
Shaq has been a very smart investor over the years. We don't have exact numbers on his portfolio, but we know about who he's involved with. Instead of commenting on every single one, we felt it might be best to just list off some of his biggest and best.
Shaq got in with Google at less than $85 a share and now shares are more than $700.
He owns 10% of Five Guys Burgers. He is a part owner of 40 Fitness clubs, the Met Miami, some nightclubs, vitamin water, muscle milk, and 17 Auntie Anne's Pretzels. He even has a share of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. Add in his endorsements that bring him more than $20 million a year and he's laughing in retirement.
Bedroom Fit For A King
Shaq's bedroom in his Orlando castle is pretty intense. There are 13 bedrooms in the mansion, but his master suite is truly masterful. We don't know the exact square footage, but it's absolutely gigantic. His en-suite bathroom is split into two sides, totaling about 1,500 square feet. Each side has a shower, but only one is customized for a human of Shaq's size. Then there are the closets, and his closets actually have their own closets. Seriously. There is a mammoth walk-in closet, which has an additional walk-in closet attached to it.
A Very Sweet 'Sweet Sixteen'
Shaq's son, Shareef, recently turned 16. To show his love for his son, Shaq went all out. He threw a gigantic party with more than 400 guests. Post Malone, the rapper, even performed. Shareef's gifts were the main attraction though, as
Shaq gave him not one but two vehicles—a jeep and a Lamborghini. There was a catch. Here's what Shaq had to say:
“It’s called incentives. You do good … Put it this way, I bought them, they’re his regardless. But you get all A’s, Lambo’s yours … you can have it whenever you want it. It’s at my house in the garage. Let’s not get it twisted. I bought them for him but I didn’t give it to him that day. But they’re his. You get all A’s, son, the Lamborghini’s yours whenever you want it. He has a low B average. I told him to get that low B average and if you do certain things in basketball, when you get your license you can get the Jeep. "I’m a master of making things look more expensive than they are. Of course the Lambo is expensive, but Jeeps are $25,000. So I put a hell of a paint job on it, I put some thangs on it for him, that’s what the little kids like, so when he gets his license I’ll definitely give him that."
Sources: MTV; Youtube; Animal Planet; ESPN; Variety
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