Shannon Sharpe was almost a billionaire — or at least he says so.
No, it wasn’t because he’s taking Club Shay Shay or Nightcap to the moon or because he might’ve received some NSFW offers after his unfortunate Instagram Live mishap. Instead, it involved some investing as a player — and perhaps some advice that Sharpe shouldn’t have listened to.
During an interview with Mark Cuban on his Club Shay Shay podcast, Sharpe revealed a financial decision that still haunts him.
“I remember when Google came out, and they thought the shares were gonna open up about $85 a share,” said Sharpe. “And I remember saying to my financial guys, ‘Oh, you know what,’ I just signed with the Ravens; I had some money. I was like, ‘Man, I’d like to buy, you know, $300,000 worth.’ Well, it opens up at $115, and he says it’s overpriced, and so, it’s gonna come back down.”
While Sharpe signed with Baltimore in 2000, Google didn’t go public until 2004. That was nearly two decades ago, so we can certainly lend him some leeway that perhaps it’s a bit different than he recalled. But the monetary figure he suggested that he would’ve invested is a little high.
Even then, he still would’ve been very, very rich, albeit not Mark Cuban rich.
“How many times has Google split?” asked Sharpe.
Well, Google is worth well over $2 trillion.
“I’d have been a billionaire with you,” Sharpe implored Cuban. “I did; I f***ed up bad. Because Netflix and Google, and I had the money to do it, but I let somebody talk me out of it.”
In hindsight, it’s easy to say that Sharpe should have trusted his gut. We can sit here nearly two decades and Monday Morning Quarterback a decision that could’ve significantly impacted his life. But you choose many pathways in the Game of Life and like many of us, Sharpe seemingly fell victim to the voices of doubt.
While it might have cost him a chance to become one of the wealthiest athletes in history, Sharpe still had an incredibly successful career in the National Football League and the media.
And maybe that one decision could’ve made all the difference, but who knows?
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.