Earvin “Magic” Johnson is viewed as one of the most successful athletes-turned-businessmen of all time, but even he has at least one business deal that he regrets passing on.
In... Earvin “Magic” Johnson is viewed as one of the most successful athletes-turned-businessmen of all time, but even he has at least one business deal that he regrets passing on. In the interview, Johnson recalled his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979, and how he was courted by three shoe companies: Converse, Adidas ADS and Nike NKE .“Converse offered me the most money,” Johnson said. “So you know, when you grow up broke, you take the money. [Nike co-founder] Phil Knight came in and said, ‘Hey, I can’t offer you the same type of money, but I can offer you stock.
“I didn’t know nothing about it,” the Lakers legend continued. “My family didn’t come from money. See, that’s one thing that hurt us sometimes. When you don’t come from money, I didn’t even know what stocks was at that time. So I passed on the stocks.”And what happened next? Nike Inc. held its initial public offering the following year in 1980 on the New York Stock Exchange.