The Life and Business Ventures of Magic Johnson Entrepreneurship

This paper is an outline of the life and business venture of Magic Jonson, a former NBA

basketball champion. The discussion focus on his life after basketball and the business ventures

aspect of affiliation with LA sports (dodgers, Lakers, endorsement, etc.). This discussion is

organized into several sections, including his business ventures outside sports and investments in

the LA sports. Born in 1959, the 6-feet-9 Magic Johnson winning a championship in high

schools and college was selected to join Lakers in 1979. He played 13 seasons for the Lakers as a

point guard and won a championship in the 1980s (NBA.com, 2017, August 24). Magic Johnson

first retired from NBA in 1991 after announcing that he was positive for HIV (Busby, 2018, May

2). His HIV status and the bold step he took to announce his status without legal requirements

was a significant move that established his future roles in endorsements. He resumed in 1992 to

play for the US Olympic Dream Team. He assumed the role of Lakers coach in the 1993-1994

but announced he would leave as he had never dreamed of being a coach as he wanted to own be

a businessman (NBA.com, 2017, August 24).

Magic Johnson demonstrated his commitment to business since he had created the Magic

Johnson foundation in 1988. After retirement in 1991, he was committed to e expand his

business. In 1994 Magic Johnson purchased shares of Lakers becoming a part-owner. Johnson

owned 5% of Laker’s interest until 2010 when he sold out his shares. Lakers In 1995, he made

another business venture on a chain of movie theaters in Los Angeles before extending to other

cities. Johnson recognized that most African Americans and Latinos were committed to movies

but owned no business in the city. Johnson resumed to Lakers in 1995-1996, played at power

forward, and retired for the third time. In 1996 Johnson sold his 5% interest to Jerry Buss but

bought back the stock later. Since his final retirement, Jonson has been a business powerhouse