Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was on hand to join Shaquille O’Neal and Papa Johns CEO Steve Ritchie to cut the ribbon on O’Neal’s new Papa John’s restaurant near Georgia Tech in Midtown Atlanta.
Shaq is on the Papa John’s Board of Directors and the company uses him as a spokesman.
Shaq buys Papa Johns in Midtown Atlanta
According to security filings, the pizza chain is paying the NBA great $4.1 million in cash over three years. Shaq is also getting 87,136 shares of stock that vest between 2020 and 2022, according to restaurantbusinessonline.com.
Those shares are reportedly worth $4.4 million.
The deal also includes Shaq appearing on the company’s social media accounts once a month and other partnership plans.
On Sunday, the City of Atlanta’s Twitter account posted about the ribbon-cutting in Midtown.
Shaq owns several Midtown Atlanta establishments in the food industry, including the iconic Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
In 2016, the TNT analyst paid $1.1 million for an estate in McDonough. The property is spread out across 14 acres and features two homes, a basketball court, a theatre and a three-stall barn.
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