Shaquille O’Neal talks martial arts films, friendship, and doing business in China
While teammates partied, he studied business. Now he’s a Reebok president with stakes in Ring, Google and a 20-year China relationship
It’s been 14 years since he’s shaken the backboard in an NBA game, but Shaquille O’Neal still looms large – on billboards, social media feeds and in the purple and gold jerseys worn by fans who have made the trip from across China to Macau’s Cotai Strip.
When America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) returned to China for the first time in over five years, the former Los Angeles Lakers star was front and centre. Not on the court, but as a business mogul, brand president and ambassador for a league looking to re-establish its place in one of the world’s biggest basketball markets.
O’Neal is in Macau for the 2025 NBA China Games, flanked by his entourage and a team from Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the global brand development and licensing company he joined in 2015 and where he is now the second-largest independent stakeholder.
O’Neal clocks in at seven feet one inch, but it’s the force of his personality – set off by a dark suit, dark glasses and a 1,000-watt smile – that fills the room. He greets everyone with a handshake and a kind word. He knows how to work a room, even after a long-haul flight halfway around the world. He also knows how to build an empire.