Okay so this whole Elvis and Shaq thing? Man, it started totally random. I was actually scrolling through funny stuff online yesterday, just chilling, right? And bam – saw this clip everyone was sharing. Big Shaq on live TV doing that hilarious penguin waddle straight off the TNT set cause he couldn’t hold it! Dude looked like he was gonna explode. Laughed so hard I nearly spilled my coffee.
Getting Weirdly Curious
Seeing that clip, got me thinkin’. Everyone was joking about TNT putting a literal toilet in the studio next time – wouldn’t put it past ’em honestly. But that weirdly reminded me of somethin’. Wasn’t Shaq tied up with… Elvis Presley somehow? Like, business stuff? Swore I read that ages ago. Just didn’t click until right then. Seemed crazy, Elvis and Shaq? Had to dig deeper.
The Deep Dive Begins
Fired up the laptop, started digging past the memes. Remembered an old article about Shaq’s business smarts after ball. Key thing kept poppin’ up: Authentic Brands Group (ABG). Apparently, this huge company owns a ton of dead celebrity brands? Like Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, even Michael Jackson! Wild, right?
Then, boom! Found confirmation from another piece. Shaq invested heavily in ABG a good while back. He didn’t just put money in, dude became their second-biggest individual owner. My head was kinda blown. This company controlled Elvis’s whole legacy – the name, the image, the rights to everythin’. And Shaq owned a massive chunk of THAT company. So indirectly… yeah, Shaq has a real stake in what happens with Elvis Presley Inc. today. Mind officially blown.
Shaq’s Boss Moves
This got me looking harder at how Shaq rolls. Found some gold about him and ABG buying Reebok a few years back. The story was nuts! Apparently, Jamie Salter, the big boss at ABG, called Shaq one day. Basically said: “I’m sendin’ you something huge! Just sign the papers, don’t even look.” Shaq, being Shaq, just trusted the dude and signed blind. Next thing Salter says? “Congrats, man! We just bought Reebok!” Just like that. Boss level move. Shows how deep his partnership with ABG runs and how he operates – trusts the team, makes big plays.
Putting the Elvis Puzzle Together
So, after piecing all this mess together, here’s the rough picture I got:
- ABG owns Elvis Presley’s name, likeness, everything (along with a bunch of other icons).
- Shaq owns a massive personal stake in ABG itself – he’s deep in the ownership structure.
- Because ABG controls Elvis, and Shaq controls a big piece of ABG, that means Shaq has significant influence over the Elvis Presley brand today. It’s not direct “he owns Elvis,” but it’s a powerful ownership stake in the company that absolutely DOES.
The Big Lightbulb Moment
Took me way longer than it should’ve, connecting the dots from a dude needing the john to who controls the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s empire 50 years later. But the reality? It seems clear. While ABG runs the daily Elvis show, who really steers the ship at ABG? Guys like Jamie Salter… and Shaquille O’Neal. That TNT toilet story seems like a funny footnote now. The real headline? Shaq sits at the table where major decisions about Elvis’s billion-dollar legacy get made. That’s the ownership secret right there.
