Shaquille O’Neal Gets Alkaline Water Stake in Branding Pact

(Bloomberg) -- NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is joining Alkaline Water Co. as an equity partner and member of the board of advisers, betting he can help make inroads for the bottled-water company in a crowded market. Shares climbed as much as 9% Thursday, the most since March 9.

The basketball star will ultimately receive 7 million common shares of Alkaline Water over a three-year period, which equals a stake of about 5% to 6% on a fully diluted basis, Chairman Aaron Keay told Bloomberg News in an interview. Ranked by current holdings, this would make O’Neal the largest shareholder.

“There is reasonable interest from both parties that Shaquille wants to invest in the company -- it is an area that we will explore,” Keay said.

O’Neal also will serve as a brand ambassador for Alkaline88, which contains just two ingredients -- water and pink Himalayan rock salt -- and boasts a “perfectly balanced” pH level of 8.8.

His “positive presence and global outreach will enable Alkaline88 to aggressively push our growth trajectory even faster,” Keay said. “We will have a ton of fun with Shaquille’s larger-than-life personality.” Advertising plans include everything from social media to national and regional television campaigns.

This isn’t O’Neal’s first brand partnership. Back in March 2019, Papa John’s International Inc. said O’Neal would be joining the pizza chain as a board member and an investor in nine restaurants in the Atlanta area. Since that announcement, the stock has more than doubled, handily outperforming both the S&P Supercomposite Restaurant Index and the broader market. Even pre-pandemic, Papa John’s shares rose 48%.

O’Neal also has done promotions for Carnival Corp., J.C. Penney Co. and Sanofi’s topical pain reliever Icy Hot, among others.

Increasingly, athletes and other celebrities have sought to take equity stakes as part of their endorsement deals. In 2015, LeBron James ditched his role as a McDonald’s Corp. pitchman so he could build the Blaze Pizza startup as an investor. Oprah Winfrey helped fuel a rally at WW International Inc., formerly known as Weight Watchers, after she became both a major shareholder and an endorser.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alkaline Water is in need of a boost. Through Wednesday’s close, the stock was down 62% from a July high of $2.60, with a market capitalization of $87.2 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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