by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
June 19, 2025
In line with Johnson, the deal proved that city redevelopment was an funding value making.
Magic Johnson has made billions since retiring from the NBA, however one cope with Starbucks “modified every thing” for the enterprise visionary.
Johnson appeared on Bloomberg’s The Take care of Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly to speak about his rise within the enterprise world.
“My film theaters was crushing it within the interior cities. It confirmed individuals you can also make cash doing enterprise within the interior cities of America,” Johnson mentioned within the interview.
Even with these {qualifications}, Johnson mentioned he had a mighty activity of getting then-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to put money into his thought of placing extra of the espresso chain’s places in underserved communities.
“The toughest factor I believed I used to be gonna do was play in opposition to Larry Fowl and Michael Jordan. The toughest factor was to go earlier than the [Starbucks] board after which go right into a movie show filled with good shareholders and attempt to persuade them this can be a nice transfer for Starbucks,” defined Johnson.
Fortunately for Johnson, his persuasion expertise matched his basketball talents. The entrepreneur secured the deal to personal a stake in 125 Starbucks places. Nonetheless, the transfer not solely elevated his internet value but additionally proved the viability of investing in city areas.
“That deal modified every thing,” mentioned Johnson in 2018, in keeping with CNBC. “We constructed 125 shops. We made that deal occur, and that’s what actually put me on a path of success.…It confirmed all people that I may drive ROI in city America.”
He added, “…My firm was capable of present jobs and entry to those retailers who weren’t coming in earlier than, however now they hit a house run after we partnered, and so they got here into the interior metropolis.”
Though Johnson offered the theaters and his stake in Starbucks just a few years later, its success helped set up the 65-year-old as a powerhouse in enterprise. It additionally inspired firms to contemplate numerous, underrepresented areas for progress alternatives.
“I turned the primary individual to ever personal Starbucks outdoors of Starbucks,” Johnson mentioned. “We constructed 125 in 40 completely different markets throughout America. All of them did extraordinarily properly. And that basically gave me, to begin with, the stamp of approval. It gave me the observe report that I wanted of success so I can transfer on to one thing else.”
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