The management team for Turner Sports' Shaquille O’Neal said that he "earned more than" $21M last year through his many business partnerships and TV work, and while several retired athletes make more, few "can seemingly compete with the volume and variety of O’Neal products," according to Scott Cacciola of the N.Y. TIMES. In addition to O'Neal's TV work, he "plans to help promote his jewelry line and his suit collection." He also "has fruit punch to pitch, sneakers to sell and video games to plug." Then there is "his television pilot (Shaq will play himself), his role as commissioner of sport for the Cartoon Network and his charitable work with Toys for Tots." But not everything O'Neal does "is an instant triumph." Sales of Arizona Beverages' Soda Shaq have "slowed," and O'Neal's "Shaq Fu" video game "was widely panned by critics when it hit shelves" in '94. But a new version of the game is "under development" by Ukraine-based Saber Interactive. At O'Neal's third annual "Shaq Summit" in the spring, reps from 19 companies "showed up." Those included reps from Reebok, for which he is filming "several spots." Shaquille O'Neal Consumer Properties President Ian Gomar, who handles O'Neal's deals, said, "I’ve worked with a lot of athletes, and the beauty of him is that if I say, ‘Look, I need you at Walmart on Tuesday at 9 o’clock for a promotion,’ he’ll show up at 8:30." Cacciola writes with more players "seeing themselves as individual brands, perhaps O’Neal’s entrepreneurial feats, which have stretched into retirement and landed him on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek, offer more of a road map than ever before" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/9).
