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Shaquille O’Neal is remembered as one of the most dominant big men that the NBA has ever seen. A four-time champion and a three-time Finals MVP, the LA Lakers legend left behind a special legacy of his own.
However, in the years since his retirement, he has done so much more. Today, with a net worth of over $400 million, O’Neal is not just an NBA legend. He is also perhaps the biggest philanthropist to have emerged from basketball and has made a plethora of smart investments that has in-return allowed him to give back to society.
Keeping up with the trend, Shaq has invested in an online community college startup, Campus. Founded by Tade Oyerinde in 2023, the company aims to give students an alternative to local community colleges.
This is in the form of its online, accredited community college which allows students to take up courses offered by professors from universities such as Vanderbilt, Princeton, and NYU.
Hilariously enough, O’Neal made the decision to invest in the company after reading about it in a Forbes article. Oyerinde, in an interview with AFROTECH, revealed the following:
“Shaq saw the Forbes article and had his team reach out, and he was just like, ‘This kid raised all this money from these guys.’ He thought it was unbelievable.”
While Shaq might largely be known these days for his hilarious antics on TNT, there is little doubt that there are a range of other commitments that he deserves more recognition for.
More details about Shaquille O’Neal's investment in Campus
Campus was launched in 2023 and has raised a total of $29 million already. Noted names such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Discord Founder Jason Citron have already invested, with O’Neal now following suit. Campus aims to revolutionize the education sector in the US by giving community college students an alternate, easier, and financially secure method to graduate.
The company, apart from providing affordable online services, also serves up an esteemed faculty roster, and access to free WiFi and laptops. It aims especially to help students from diverse backgrounds, a field O’Neal himself has worked in for years.
Campus has shown tremendous growth in recent years and boasts of a 61% graduation rate, which is close to double of what most local colleges show in the United States.
