Shaquille O'Neal

LeBron passed on McDonald's and Coke money for Blaze Pizza equity

Early in his career, LeBron James turned down McDonald's and Coca-Cola endorsements in favor of an ownership stake in Blaze Pizza, betting that equity plus his promotional muscle would be worth more than annual endorsement checks. Shaan frames it as choosing to be the employer, not the employee, following Magic Johnson and Shaq's franchise plays.

“One of the reasons why was they basically discovered this pizza chain called Blaze, and they were like, look, you could do this McDonald's deal, you'll get the cash, you'll get cash every year, but we could be owners of Blaze and we could be a part of like the franchise. And then if we talk about that, we use our— put our muscle behind that, that might end up being worth a lot more. Magic Johnson and Shaq had done these things with franchises, so people People kind of started to understand like, oh, you don't want to be the employee, you want to be the employer.”

Steal thisWhen someone wants your audience or endorsement, ask for equity instead of a flat fee.