YouSaid · the spoken record

Magic Johnson

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90
first
2026-02-11
most recent
2026-02-11
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1
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podcast

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  1. “And you know so much, and you've helped so many. And that's been your blessing and your purpose. Of course, you're rich and going to be richer, but You're rich by a lot of different ways. You're rich by money, but you're rich also with your roller desks and your knowledge and your willingness to spread that and give it to somebody else. The downfall of minorities has been most of the rich people before us. The knowledge with them didn't share it.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “See, because I'm older, you're young. So they're looking at you saying, dang, I want to be like you, or I want to partner with you. I want to teach me. See, sometimes we're afraid to say, hey, somebody say, teach”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “And it's been a blessing, man, to sit here with you. So that we can educate and also help others. Know who want to get into investing or Silicon Valley, owning their own company, it's not easy. But it's doable. If you put the time in, you got to be willing to put the time in”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “But we could do it because of you. You showed us away, and I said, Man, that's a great compliment. I remember comment pulled me aside. He said, man, we don't respect a lot of people, but every time I get into any concert, we talk about money, we talk about owning something, they all say you. Absolutely. And I say, well, thank you. And I'm just so happy that Michael and I. Can say, hey, now look at KD, look at Steph, look at LeBron. It's more than them. There's so many other Draymond equal dollar. I mean, I can keep going. There's so many great businessmen out there and women because the WNBA, those young ladies are doing great things. 100%. And so I want to also shout them out.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “That's right. That's right. So I wanted to throw that nugget out there. And that's so, so important. And, man, my journey, you know the best compliments I get is from all the current guys, the current hip hoppers, Rick Raw, all of them. Common. They all say, man”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “That's what's important. And so while you're blowing it on so many other things, remember when that deal comes and you have to put equity. You had to put skin in the game. You got to be ready for that”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Yeah, that's real. And think about this and all these athletes and entertainers out there that we're talking to, and of course other people I was in a position. See, I saved my money So every deal that came that I had to write a check, I was ready to do that.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Are you a risk taker? Absolutely. See, and I think a lot of times that's what they have to ask themselves. Are you willing to take the risk from the money that I did make from Howard Schultz and Starbucks? And again, thank you, Howard, because you. Made me legitimate. That Starbucks deal sealed the deal for me. And so, but I was a risk taker. I put up my money.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Was through a series, not just on the sports, but all majority from business. That's right, and a number of deals that led you into going, taking one thing, taking your investment in Starbucks, flipping it into Dodgers, just continuing to build. And so”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Hey, well, listen, you gotta start getting 10 years in the game in order to help make it happen. Exactly. But I think that your journey, and this is why we just wanted to make sure you were the first one that we shared this with, because you did it, like you said, we talked about the NIL deals. You talked about all those things. Like, you know, the contracts were way different back then when you did it. And you see, you know, I think there's only four billionaire people in sports. I mean, you have LeBron, you have Jordan, you have Tiger. And then we got.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Well, I think one of the main reasons is because we're both passionate about this and we're both actually in it every single day. That's right. Like we're not, you know, just on the outside reporting in. Right after this.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “These young men and women. College athletes, these high school athletes, student athletes, I should say, are getting paid a lot of money. So name and likeness is so amazing. And now you got companies.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “That's right And that's in everything. Just think about my journey. You couldn't pay an athlete in high school, college. And now NIO, now high school players are getting paid a couple hundred thousand College players getting paid millions of dollars, which I'm so happy because when I came through Michigan State and I was dating my girlfriend who is now my wife cookie. I didn't have any money”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “100 person team, or we could actually do this with 10 people. And now we have we can still operate at 10x to speed because of where, you know, whether it's the, you know, from AI to using blockchain and all these different resources is really helping push innovation forward on the business side.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Absolutely. And I think a lot of even our companies, when we're thinking about even like the next generation of AI video, right, and being able to be able to work with these companies and find unique ways to bridge technology and innovation. Because if you're building a business from the ground up in 2025, you're starting a brand new company. You're not going to do things the old way. Oh, you can. And you think about with the tools that are available now, like that means just by default, you can since then say instead of us having a,”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “That series changed baseball in the MLB and for the better. And I think that we brought in fans that normally didn't watch baseball. Absolutely. And so. Again, that's what can happen sometimes. When superstars play like superstars. Otani performed well Guerrero from their side perform well and on and on and on They all played like superstars. That's what made it so entertaining. And the highs and the lows, that's what sports give you, right? One minute, you're up three old, the next minute they tie you and they take the lead. Exactly. I mean, that series was going back and forth. So it's a beautiful thing. That's why, again, we love sports.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Exactly. And I want to be in the playoffs. Why the old Tanya? Leave the angels to come to the dodgers. Yep. He had never been in the playoff, and he wanted to be in the playoff. That's why he signed with the Dodgers. And he's back-to-back world to his champion.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “And it's the other. And he's right. And every group I'm with, they're playing to win That's why every team I have but the sparks. And this year now the commanders won't be in a playoff, but every team was in the playoffs. Absolutely. And so we're playing to win. And so the fans see that?”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “That's right, right. What is your identity? Who are you? Players also going to ask you that? What's the identity of the commanders or the Lakers or the so-and-so? And so... And then do you want to win? Because a lot of players and a lot of fans are going to be saying, hey, Mr. Owner, do you really want to win? Exactly.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “That's right. In basketball, this guy shoots from the right side on threes and he makes them more than he does on the left side or force them left because he doesn't score well going. I mean, on and on and on. So I never seen. Analytics come into, it's in every sports now NFL, football, basketball, baseball, baseball actually started analytics really in sports.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, I think first, you know. Making sure that you do invest in player development analytics. When I play no analytics, today, you got to have a whole staff. Because that's how you win in today, right? And right.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “As the owners. And as an owner, I mean, it really boils down to it's not just the team itself, like you're working with operations, you're working with so many different people. Puzzles. And obviously, when you were playing, you were the captain of the team. For the founders that are thinking about building and scaling their teams, like what is it that you think that they should keep in mind or what would be, you know, what's your methodology of thinking when it comes to keeping a team together as you're going towards these goals?”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “And so we're going to do that. We finally got our quarterback and Jaden Daniels, but we have to surround him. With more weapons, we have to get better on the defensive end. So we're taking steps. But every team got to put money into the player development, players itself. And then, last but not least, making sure that the fans are happy because you're asking them every year to come back. Yeah, come back. And ticket prices go up. Absolutely.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “The owners, right? And so because of that, now the Dodgers is just, we're making money that no major league baseball team has ever made revenues. It's been crazy, unbelievable. It came back to us. And so I can tell you so many different situations that you have to invest in the team, in the stadium, because it will come back and the players. Because that's the number one thing. You have to put a great product out on the field. That's where we're growing the commanders. That's the next step for us. How do we get better?”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Yeah, Chris, that's a great point. When we bought the Dodgers, we put a couple hundred million into the fan experience, into the stadium. We had to increase the fan experience. What is every league and every team talking about today? How to increase the fan experience? Because then the money will come back to”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Oh man. He was on that phone. Well, one of even when you're talking about sports when we were upstairs, one of the, you said one of the secrets to why these teams are growing and obviously with the success of the Dodgers when you purchase them and the sparks and continuing and now with the commanders and so many other teams is that you have to not be afraid to spend money. You got to spend money in order to make money. That's right.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “So much, even like what happened with YouTube a couple weeks ago, YouTube TV when they shut off ESPN for a couple weeks in Disney and everybody was like, no, hold on a second. We got to get this deal right, you know? Because that's how important it is.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “But give a lot of the players a lot of credit. Give college basketball, women's college basketball took off. And then that fan base came in to the WNBA and started watching that as well. No, we're still blown away about the growth of the WNBA and where it's going. Soccer in America, same thing. LAFC. Valuation over a billion dollars, I think, with one, two. Man. It just keeps growing the NWSAL, the women's soccer league. Same thing. It's just skyrocketing. Now they all have great TV contracts. The WNB, that's the reason why. They have great TV contracts”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Like so, baby. The commanders two years old now. Six billion now, they just said we're closer to eight billion, and now that the new stadium, that's going to go even up higher that we're building today. So sports. I know we always talk about it. Why do I invest? Well, it's easy because the valuations are so high and nobody's ever going to stop watching sports in America. That's where we get away.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Continuously, yeah, because Chris, we look, let's just break down. When we bought the Dodgers, 2.2 billion Where everybody said that was we all were paid, right? And today, this is not from me. This is from Forbes and all the companies. Now it's $8 billion.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “Exactly. I remember when I went to your annual conference down in Laguna, you had your whole team around and you just were just pointing about, look at my portfolio. This is the portfolio. This is the value in billions. And then so you had, you emphasize like we're going to keep growing this. We're going to eat exponential value. That's right. You're going to have to, you know, swing for the fences and think bigger continuously.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “That's right. That's right. For a small deal, I could be working on a big deal And we got to put our efforts in those big deals. But it's nothing wrong. And so everybody has to start somewhere and they have to understand that. Don't think that you have to start where I am or where LeBron is or Steph or whoever it is. It's okay to start small and grow your business and grow your company. But for me, you can't get mad at me because I said, hey, my deal's got to be here. Because again, that's where my company, my brand is. And so, and thus, the cause that I'm getting today.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “And to your point, so I will continue to look there, but because now my company is more global. And we're doing bigger, bigger deals. Sometimes a problem that you and I have our friends and people that we know who are great people, who are celebrities and so. You know, they bring you deals and they're too small and they don't understand. I've outgrown those deals, you know.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “It was supply and demand, right? So we met that, and man. Everything just hit a home run. And so we just kept that business thesis going. And then here come companies came in and said, oh, wow, that's a huge marketplace. Minorities do have a lot of spending power. Right, and right now we're what over a trillion by 1.4 trillion dollar spending power between African Americans and Latinos is a couple trillion.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “That sounds like a win to me, and you make more money. Exactly. So, again, you know. I want to make sure companies are on the cutting edge And are doing things we've never seen before, or there's a huge demand like alchemy, there's a huge demand. And man, it's almost you can't miss”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “And these cities are courting them, right? They need it. They need it. That's how I look at it. If the sector, if there's demand and heavy demand. Just like you look at AI, it's heavy demand for it across. Every industry is going to help everybody, right? Lower your Cost, you're going to be more efficient. You're going to be faster.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “How do you think about that in terms of just that specific sectors, especially, and now people are the next big companies are all coming and saying, okay, well, I see magic has invested in these businesses. Like, I think that this is the next big one.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “100%. Also, the industry is super important. And I think. You've recently had an opportunity to join the cap table on alchemy health and also with function health, which actually just announced their series B today. You know, you're developing an amazing portfolio in the intersections of AI, bio and where the future of innovation is going from there”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “And you don't You know, and so for me, I always look at who is the lead, also who else is investing. And then I say, okay, they got a track record of success. They've already vetted this deal frontwards and backwards And if they wrote a check, I'm writing my check”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Right, I'll tell you, I mean, I can't tell you the amount of times someone's reached out to me and been like, oh, hey, should I do this? Should I And I'm like, whoa, who's leading the deal? And then they're like They don't have a lead yet. I'm like, well, then you're the lead. Oh, that's a good point. And you don't want to be that.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “With technology, it just keeps going and growing. I mean, man, you and I way back invest And technology and still investing today in technology. And like you said, AI now is It's going to blow people's mind. It's already blowing our mind where we are today with it, but it's only going to get better.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Being able to use prompt engineering to actually create a business plan or think about different strategies and all those things. And so I'm curious, where do you see kind of the evolution of what these next generation of technologies coming? I mean, everyone talks about what's going on with AI. I mean, we're very big believers in the future of blockchain technologies.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, you were literally the first one. I mean, like you said, is that, you know, people were saying, why are you even interested in business? And now you fast forward 25 years. The cool thing to do is have, you know, a company that you can actually go and invest into and you can build your own brands. I think that with even like when we think about the world of crypto and AI, one of our theses is that at one point one person will be able to build a billion dollar business with the tools that are available right now.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Crazy. So it's just beautiful and you see Tom Brady and the... On and on and on, you know, the Manning Brothers. So you see all these former athletes and current athletes and again there's so many others who are just taking advantage of their brand and star power. But turning it into a successful company.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “And I think one of the reasons. You kind of talked about it around creating that halo effect is that we can when we make these investments now, and I think that, you know, before you should just be on one or, you know, Wall Street Journal or TechCrunch now. Someone makes an investment or the new companies are being built in Silicon Valley, they go across mainstream media from complex to Essence magazine to. All on social media, like boardroom, you know, there's whole entities now that are being created that are really expressing the business of Of investing. And I think that it's now people are in their conscious mind and they're thinking about the next generation of those companies.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “Also, the founder doesn't happen like that. It's two totally different worlds. We're in Silicon Valley. People, you know, they don't, it's a series C or a Series A company. They don't even have a marketing budget like that.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “I mean, we see it on our end when people are wanting to invest into the next big companies and understanding. Now that it's not, hey, I'd love to work with you, you should write me a check. It's like I'd love to work with you. Here's, you know, some money so I could get on the captivity. That's right”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “And Have changed now And I think there's a lot of people who were able to help people understand that's not the way to go. And so now you're seeing some of the... Most high profile people, celebrities now, owning, like you said, their own brands, their own companies. I mean, we see”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “That's right, creating their own brand and making a lot of money. And then you see the same thing happening with the athletes. And just everyday people, too. And so, yeah, it's changed a lot, where before you were brought up and you were coming up and you were supposed to say get the most money.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “I think you're seeing it now across the board, and you're seeing it. Well, look at it. From actors You know, all these actors now are doing equity deals instead of taking the money, right? You see their own.”

    2026-02-11 · a16z Podcast · How Magic Johnson Built a Billion-Dollar Portfolio in 30 Years · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source