Metta World Peace missed out on investing in Vitaminwater.
On the “Drink Champs” podcast, the former NBA player, born Ronald William Artest Jr., revealed he had a chance to invest in the drink company for $235,000 in 2007. He had already been marketing the company on his jerseys, and he said the opportunity was presented because he “activated them in the community.”
At the time, he turned down the deal because he wanted to be paid upfront rather than earning equity. He also said he was accustomed to receiving advances for endorsement deals.
“I turned that deal down because I’m like, ‘Pay me.’ Think about it, I’m trying to play basketball, but also I got a management team, and I’m trying to bring my people up and we just trying to do deals … And I tell my guys all the time, I don’t regret nothing … But in that deal I didn’t know what equity was,” he explained.
“You know, when I came into the league, we was just saying, ‘Okay, in our neighborhood, you have a certain amount of capital. What are you going to do with that capital is on your mind. How you going to 10x that?’ That’s what we call an investment today,” he said on the podcast.
“Don’t give up. That’s the main thing … Now here I am with 40 companies and a portfolio. Yeah, at that time I didn’t know, and it wasn’t because I was dumb, it was because I was in the hood. And there’s a lot of people that’s in the hood that’s making mistakes. What I’m trying to say is, ‘Listen, don’t take the bait,” he continued.
In May 2007, Glaceau, Vitaminwater’s parent company, was acquired by The Coca-Cola Co. for $4.1 billion in cash, CBS News reported.
