Magic Johnson says why he once ditched his millionaire teammates to talk to a 'super super billionaire'

Magic Johnson knows a point aliases 2 astir making the leap from sports to business.

Speaking to Anthony Anderson, who guest-hosted "Jimmy Kimmel Live" connected Tuesday, the erstwhile NBA subordinate shared the proposal he'd springiness others looking to break into the business world.

"The first thing, return your ego retired of it and cognize that you don't cognize it," Johnson, whose existent sanction is Earvin Johnson, said.

Johnson said aspiring entrepreneurs should study nevertheless they can, whether done books, conversations, aliases spending clip pinch group who person already built successful businesses.

"I called truthful galore group and met pinch them for luncheon and meal to prime their brains astir what made them successful, and what did I person to do to beryllium successful," Johnson said.

He besides said group should look astir for gaps that could go business opportunities.

"I utilized to locomotion astir the organization and say, 'What's missing?' Oh, we didn't person theaters, truthful fto maine build movie theaters. Oh, we didn't person a Starbucks. Let maine put a Starbucks there," he said.

Johnson besides credited Howard Schultz, the erstwhile CEO of Starbucks, pinch giving him the opportunity to unfastened 125 caller locations. He added that having group successful positions of power who were consenting to thief him was an important portion of his success.

He's besides been deliberate astir putting himself astir group he tin study from.

During his clip connected the 1992 US Olympics "Dream Team," Johnson said he erstwhile attended a meal hosted by Prince Rainier of Monaco. While astatine the palace, Johnson recalled looking retired astatine the yachts and reasoning that he wanted to beryllium connected 1 someday.

"All the players, they were complete location connected the side, talking to each other. And I said, I've sewage to get complete location pinch Prince Rainier, who owns each of Monaco," Johnson said.

"Why would I want to beryllium complete present pinch the millionaires erstwhile I tin beryllium complete location pinch the ace super billionaire? And get immoderate acquisition and tips from him," he continued.

Johnson said he went complete to present himself, and the 2 "hung retired for an hour." He said the brushwood besides led him to get to cognize Rainier's son, Prince Albert.

"I've ever gravitated to group who are smart aliases person been done thing because I want to learn," Johnson said. "I want to ever learn, and grow, and get better."

Johnson has an estimated nett worthy of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. The publication reported that Johnson earned astir $40 cardinal during his profession pinch the Los Angeles Lakers, while overmuch of his wealthiness came from his investments. His largest plus is simply a 60% liking successful life security institution EquiTrust, which has much than doubled its assets nether guidance since Johnson took power successful 2015.

Forbes first named him a billionaire successful October 2023, erstwhile it estimated his luck astatine $1.2 billion.

Johnson isn't the only jock to task into business aft uncovering occurrence successful sports.

Serena Williams started building her finance portfolio done Serena Ventures successful 2014, while still astatine the tallness of her tennis career.

In 2025, Williams shared three tips for founders pinch Business Insider: make judge there's a marketplace for the idea, put successful relationships, and beryllium prepared for setbacks.

In July, Maria Sharapova said she utilized injuries and clip disconnected from tennis to return business courses and internships to hole for retirement.

Sharapova said she recognized early connected that a master tennis profession would extremity overmuch sooner than different professions, which gave her a consciousness of urgency astir preparing for what came next. "I was like, 'I've sewage to hustle. I've sewage to commencement learning from different people.'"