Shaquille O'Neal, Dan Gilbert, and Tony Ressler to invest in Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million fund

Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal is joining a venture capital firm with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Tony Ressler of the Atlanta Hawks. The VC firm, Courtside Ventures, which launched The Athletic, announced a $100 million fund on Thursday. Taking part are a wide range of athletes across numerous sports with wildly diverse backgrounds.

In addition to Shaquille O'Neal, NFL legend Larry Fitzgerald is on board, as well as David Blitzer, who owns the Philadelphia 76ers. The group also features several owners and minority owners from teams around the league, as well as football clubs, and teams in other sports like the MLB.

According to Boardroom TV, the firm will kick things off by investing in a wide range of sports collectibles, wellness and gaming brands. While there's no specific word on exactly how they plan to navigate the future, the Athletic's co-founder Alex Mather spoke about the VC firm's future:

“Courtside Ventures has a track record of successfully backing and accelerating culture-shaping companies that are driving innovation, and with Fund III we will continue to invest with conviction in great founders and disruptive ideas in our key verticals.”

Courtside Ventures partner Deepen Parikh had this to say about the firm's future plans for success, referencing a global strategy:

“We will also continue to put a strong emphasis on global investment opportunities as our vertical focus and learnings from the U.S. market are applicable to larger and higher growth regions.”

Of course, this isn't the only business venture for the Hall of Famer, he also has quite an extensive investment portfolio, which you can see discussed below.

Shaquille O'Neal the investor and businessman

When Shaquille O'Neal was drafted into the NBA, he entered the league with plenty of attention on him. Following a collegiate career that saw him gain widespread national attention for breaking backboards, Shaquille O'Neal signed a four-year, $17.4 million contract.

Thanks to his accountant Lester, he was able to use that money to make more money. One of the first businesses the duo began investing in was coin-operated laundry machines, which landed Shaq in some hot water. At one point, his accountant had to inform him that a whopping quarter of a million dollars was missing.

It was then that Shaq was forced to admit that he had begun collecting barrels of quarters in his bedroom from the machines. He explained that he loved physically seeing the money with his own eyes, and after quite a bit of confusion, the pair got all the money deposited.

O'Neal currently has a simple investing strategy that he learned from Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. In an interview with RealMoney, he stated:

"He (Bezos) says, 'I invest in things that's going to change people's lives.' I gonna try that. I'm gonna do it. So you align that with... I align myself with companies that I believe in."

Edited by Rajdeep Barman