Inside Magic Johnson’s Billion-Dollar Empire | EP #163

In this episode, recorded at the Lake Nona Impact Forum, Peter and Magic Johnson discuss Magic’s incredible Moonshot career, including Starbucks, Burger King, LA Dodgers, and more. Recorded on Feb 26th, 2025 Views are my own thoughts; not Financial, Medical, or Legal Advice. Magic Johnson is a legendary NBA Hall of Famer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, best known for leading the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships in the 1980s and later becoming a successful businessman with investments in sports teams, real estate, and media through his company, Magic Johnson Enterprises. He has played a key role in revitalizing urban communities by bringing major franchises like Starbucks, AMC Theatres, and TGI Fridays to underserved neighborhoods across the U. S. Learn more about the Lake Nona Impact Forum: https://lakenonaimpactforum.org/ _____________ I send weekly emails with the latest insights and trends on today’s and tomorrow’s exponential technologies. Stay ahead of the curve, and sign up now: Tech Blog _____________ Connect With Peter: Twitter Instagram Youtube Moonshots Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Peter Diamandis?

  I don't know if folks really understand the depth and length of what you have done there.

• 0:13Peter Diamandis?

  The first person ever to franchise Starbucks, Burger King, 24 Hour Fitness, TGI Friday, Best Buy, Fat Burger, Steaks in Sports Teams, but life insurance, TV networks, and real estate. Where did that begin for you?

• 0:27Speaker 01

  My dream was to make it to the NBA. That was my only dream. You tell me I can't do something, I'm about to prove you wrong.

• 0:34Peter Diamandis?

  It's been 30 years since you went public with your HIV diagnosis. Your wife was pregnant.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Yes, with our son, EJ. I told her I could understand if you want to leave me. She stood up and smacked me right upside my head. True story. And she said, "We're gonna be just together."

• 0:52Peter Diamandis?

  There's a big debate right now in our political system about, you know, funding public research.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  We just got too many resources to not help people. This is not about Democrats, independents, or Republicans. It's not about that. It's about life.

• 1:17Peter Diamandis?

  Everybody, welcome to Moon Shots. During this episode, I'm going to be speaking to an incredible Moonshot entrepreneur. His name is Magic Johnson. You know him as the NBA All-Star. You know him as someone who's overcome AIDS. But did you know that he has bought into dozens of companies? He had the largest franchise at Starbucks. He's been into Best Buy, Burger King, and a multitude of other companies. We're going to talk about his life. We're going to talk about how he overcame AIDS, what that was like dealing with, telling his wife. We'll talk about his career in sports, and then his follow-on career in buying sports teams. Mostly, we'll talk about the incredible lessons he learned.

• 2:00Peter Diamandis?

  Now, this conversation takes place at the Lake Nona Impact Forum. It's an extraordinary conference in Lake Nona, Florida. It's where Fountain Life has its headquarters. And every year, the Lake Nona Impact Forum brings together incredible leaders from Jeff Bezos and President George W. Bush and other incredible world leaders. I'll ask my team to put a link to the Lake Nona Impact Forum in the show notes below. All right, let's jump into the episode with Magic Johnson.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Peter, it's a pleasure being here with you as well.

• 2:32Peter Diamandis?

  Pleasure, you know, you give a new meaning to looking up to somebody.

• 2:38Peter Diamandis?

  Before we start, I just want to say congratulations to Gloria and to Rani for putting on this event for 13 years. Bringing amazing people here every year. Let's give it up for them. Gloria.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 2:53Peter Diamandis?

  It is. It is beautiful. So I want to kick off with, you have multiple congratulations. What an extraordinary year it's been so far, and we're like just in it. First off, at the beginning of the year, our former President Biden gave you the Presidential Medal of Honor here, the highest civilian honor you can get. Let's take a look at this B-roll here of that event.

• 3:17Speaker 02

  Magic Johnson.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to Irvin Magic Johnson. With unmatched vision and versatility, Irvin Magic Johnson drove the Showtime era for the Los Angeles Lakers. Five-time NBA champion, three-time MVP, 12-time All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, and a Nate Smith Hall of Famer. His honesty about his HIV status shattered stigma and saved lives.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  The first retired athlete to build a true business empire, he champions underserved communities. With a legendary will and smile, Magic Johnson rose from the playground in Lansing, Michigan, to become one of the most beloved athletes of our time.

• 4:29Peter Diamandis?

  Does that, amazing.

• 4:33Peter Diamandis?

  Does that ever get old?

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Well, listen, it doesn't get old, but something like that is, you can't even describe the feeling. The greatest moment I had was when, you know, my, my mother, who is 89, got a chance to go to the White House and witness her son, her baby, get up there and get the Medal of Freedom and, and so to hear her and see her smile and cry and be happy about this moment. Because the only thing I wanted to do, and still the only thing I want to do in life, is to really make my, my family, especially my parents, feel good about, you know, what I've done in life.

• 5:20Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 5:20Speaker 01

  And so it was a great moment. My kids were there, of course Cookie. So it was just a great family moment and, and I guess God is saying, hey, you know, this is what happens when you understand your purpose and that you give back to the communities, the underserved communities and, and put people to work. And so I never thought I would receive an award for doing the things that's on my heart, but it was a blessed moment for me.

• 5:52Peter Diamandis?

  That's, that's beautiful and I want to get into purpose. I want to get into family. But before we get there, another magical event, LA Dodgers, take it, take it for the seventh win. What was that like?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  Well, it was an incredible moment. First, with Cookie and I, you know, us being the first African-American owners in Major League Baseball, that is first important. And then second, what's important is that the fact that when we took over the Dodgers 12 years ago, they were not where they are today, right? We built...

• 6:37Speaker 01

  We built a really successful team that our fans just love. You know, everybody thought at that time when we paid 2.2 billion dollars for the Dodgers that we overpaid.

• 6:52Peter Diamandis?

  Can I come in on that deal?

• 6:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then now they see the two World Series rings that I have and we won our division every single season but once. So, and we're number one in attendance for 12 straight years that we've owned the team. And I think that we've changed, you know, the fan experience. And then we included everybody because we have a big Latino fan base. We have African Americans, we have, of course, whites, and they all come together and cheer for this incredible team. And so it's a melting pot and I'm just so proud of the fact that our guys are serious

• 7:38Speaker 01

  about baseball and that we could make the Dodger fans happy. And they finally got a parade because when we won during COVID, we didn't get a parade. And so, but this year we had a great parade and everybody was able to celebrate in Los Angeles what we accomplished.

• 7:55Peter Diamandis?

  Well, as a fellow Angelino, thank you for all that you've done.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 7:59Peter Diamandis?

  It is a great pride.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  I appreciate that.

• 8:03Peter Diamandis?

  There are so many sides of you and what you've accomplished and will accomplish. You know, I'm here talking about longevity over these next couple of days, so I want to give you another 65 years of life here.

• 8:15Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:17Peter Diamandis?

  After you left the game, you, and actually towards the end of your game career, you started pivoting into entrepreneurship, into business. And I don't know if, if folks really understand the depth and length of what you have done there. And I'm going to dive into these separately, but it's important to realize, this isn't like a, you know, a one-shot success here. We'll talk about Starbucks, the first person ever to franchise Starbucks. I want to hear that story.

• 8:48Peter Diamandis?

  Because that, I mean, how you convinced Howard Schultz to do that, we'll get there. Burger King. But beyond that, 24 Hour Fitness, TGI Friday, Best Buy, Fat Burger. You go from there into, of course, buying stakes in sports teams, but life insurance, TV networks, and real estate. I mean, that's a conglomerate. I think it should be the Magic Johnson conglomerate of companies here. What drove that desire? Was that innate interest in being an entrepreneur, building businesses? Where did that begin for you?

• 9:28Speaker 01

  Well, definitely back home in Lansing.

• 9:31Peter Diamandis?

  When, in high school?

• 9:33Speaker 01

  Yes, because my dream was to make it to the NBA. That was my only dream.

• 9:37Peter Diamandis?

  And that started how early?

• 9:39Speaker 01

  In terms of when I was a little kid, right? Five, six, seven, eight years old, playing basketball, watching games with my father, sitting on his lap, or sitting beside him, watching the NBA. And I always wanted to emulate. After watching that game, I would run out on the basketball court and emulate Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, whoever was on TV at that time.

• 10:03Peter Diamandis?

  Did you voice that to your parents and your siblings?

• 10:07Speaker 01

  Everywhere we went, I had my ball. And my mom, it would drive her crazy, you know? We in the grocery store, I'm bouncing that ball all around.

• 10:18Peter Diamandis?

  Did anybody tell you you couldn't do that? Or did anybody, did they tell you you're gonna go for it?

• 10:22Speaker 01

  No, of course, my parents didn't, and my brothers and sisters. I have six sisters, three brothers. They never said it. But outside of that, they said I could never make it. But I didn't, I used that as fuel.

• 10:35Peter Diamandis?

  Of course.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  I'm a very competitive dude.

• 10:37Peter Diamandis?

  I've heard that.

• 10:38Speaker 01

  So, you tell me I can't do something, I'm about to prove you wrong, right? And so, I was driven by that. And so, my parents always encouraged me, but they also said, if you don't get good grades, you can't play. So, I knew I had to apply myself in the books as well. But this is what really changed my life.

• 10:59Peter Diamandis?

  Please.

• 11:02Speaker 01

  We were driving, my father and I, and I saw these two African-American men. And they had this beautiful Mercedes-Benz. I've never seen a Mercedes. So, I'm like, Dad, what kind of car is that? And he said, that's a Mercedes-Benz. And I said, oh. And I said, what? A black man is driving it, right? And he said, yeah, that's Greg Eaton. And also his business partner is Joel Ferguson. And they own businesses in Lansing, Michigan. So I didn't know that we could do that, right? And so they owned all these buildings and car dealerships, on and on and on. And I said, oh, oh, I want to meet them.

• 11:45Speaker 01

  And sure enough, my father set it up for me to say hi to them about thirteen, fourteen years old. And then as I grew in terms of basketball, they start coming to my games. And then they said, let's go to lunch. I want to take you to lunch. So they took me to lunch and they explained what they do. And I just, at that moment, my dreams changed from just being, want to make it to the NBA two. I want to be a businessman like those two guys.

• 12:17Peter Diamandis?

  I think most of you know that the news media is delivering negative news to us all the time because we pay ten times more attention to negative news than positive news. For me, the only news worthwhile that's true and impacting humanity is the news of science and technology. And that's what I pay attention to. And every week I put out two blogs, one on AI and exponential tech and one on longevity. If this is of interest to you and it's available totally for free, please join me. Subscribe at diamandus.com/subscribe. That's diamandus.com/subscribe. All right, let's go back to the episode. I think most people don't realize that that dream was simultaneous with your sports career.

• 13:00Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, it was. But sports, it was probably ninety-eight percent. And the dream of business was two percent because I was still a young man at that time. Until I turned about seventeen and I asked them to give me a job in the summer. Because when you have six other sisters and three other brothers, your parents can't give you no extra money.

• 13:25Peter Diamandis?

  That's amazing.

• 13:26Speaker 01

  So my dad. My dad took me, he said, "You want some money to go to the movies? All right, let me take you to the garage." And he introduced me to Mr. Ray, Mr. Lawnmower, and Mr. Shaw. And he said, "If you want some extra money, here's the three things that can help you get that, right?" And so, um, that allowed me to understand that I have to have a work ethic, not only on the basketball court, but outside of it. And that helped me to get ready. So I met them when I was seventeen and asked them to give me a job. They gave me a job. They owned an office building, seven floors. And I had to clean it after five o'clock on Friday, between Friday and Sunday.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  So, Peter, this was really, again, changed my life. So I cleaned the first six floors, but the CEO's office was on the seventh floor. And I'm a big believer, if you don't dream it, you can't become it. So I would bust in the CEO's office like I was pretending I was him. And I would go up to his desk, recline the seat all the way back, and put my feet up on his desk. I would hit the intercom button like I had an assistant out front. You know, I'd think of some name like, "Ruby, can you bring me some coffee and donuts in today's paper?" And for hours, I would sit there dreaming that I was a businessman and I was the CEO. Well, look what happened.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  God put me in this position, and here I am now, over almost fifty years later. I am the CEO of my own business. And so that changed my life forever.

• 15:06Peter Diamandis?

  You know, people talk about visualizing success and importance, and even in sports as well. Has that always been something that has been a go-to tool for you?

• 15:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, for me, it's being smart at basketball. I just didn't play the game. I was smart at the game.

• 15:25Peter Diamandis?

  Sure.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  There's a lot of guys that are more athletic than me. And Larry Bird, right? We both can only jump this high.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  But nobody was smarter than both of us. Uh, there was more other people that could run faster than us. But they were not smarter than us. So I've always leaned toward making sure that I was smart at the game, just like I lean toward now, being smart at business. And so, uh, that carried me a long way. Having high basketball IQ and making sure that I was competitive. I was disciplined. Um, I enjoyed the process of winning as well as losing. You have to enjoy the process. And, uh, and then Larry Bird, I gotta give him credit.

• 16:18Speaker 01

  He, he made me a better basketball player, man.

• 16:20Peter Diamandis?

  It's nice to have someone to compete against.

• 16:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, I hate that blond-haired dude, but he...

• 16:26Speaker 01

  But I gotta give him credit. He really helped me and I think I helped him. And what the people should real, really know out here is that game, Michigan State versus Indiana State is still the number one watched basketball game of all time. Isn't that, that's forty-something years later, right? It's amazing.

• 16:45Peter Diamandis?

  You'd figure someone would be able to do a better job by now.

• 16:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Now, Peter, I'm not a sit in the seat dude, so I like to be down. Is that okay?

• 16:56Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  Because I like to be with the people. I don't like to sit. So I'mma, I'mma take the question.

• 17:01Peter Diamandis?

  All right.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  Because that's my thing. I, I didn't come all the way to Orlando just to sit in a white chair, you know?

• 17:10Peter Diamandis?

  So let's go back to that moment when you're, when you're approaching Howard Schultz about Starbucks. Now, it's, it's one of the iconic companies on the planet. It's nice to have a legal drug you can sell people.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  And that's probably what it is.

• 17:29Peter Diamandis?

  And I, I swear, I give more money to Starbucks than I, you know, it's insane.

• 17:33Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 17:34Peter Diamandis?

  That good old app. So you walk into his office. Tell us a story of how you got to get the first franchise and ultimately own 125 stores, which I bet you, you wish you still owned them.

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, not really.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Where the stock is today, no.

• 17:55Speaker 01

  I'm not a guy that go backwards. I want you to know that about me. You know, when I do something, I sell it, I'm done, and keep moving. I'm never gonna be going backwards. Only one time I went backwards. And can I tell you that story?

• 18:11Peter Diamandis?

  I would love to. Yeah, please. We'll come back to Howard.

• 18:13Speaker 01

  So Larry Bird and I were the best two basketball players in college basketball at that time. And so when I won the national championship against Larry Bird, all the, I gotta always add that.

• 18:31Speaker 01

  The three shoe companies came to recruit me. So at that time, it was Adidas, Converse, and then this new company called Nike.

• 18:41Peter Diamandis?

  I've heard of them.

• 18:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So Converse offered me the most money, and then Adidas. And then this blond-haired dude, long-haired, came in from Oregon and said, "Hey, I can offer you what Converse can offer you cash-wise, but I can offer you stock."

• 19:07Speaker 01

  I wish I was that Irvin, this Irvin Johnson.

• 19:14Speaker 01

  When you grow up poor, you take the most money.

• 19:17Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 19:19Speaker 01

  Peter, they just ran analytics about how much money my stock would be worth today. A billion five.

• 19:35Speaker 01

  If I would've took that stock in 1979, all the way to now. Isn't that something? But again, I don't look backwards. So.

• 19:49Peter Diamandis?

  I mean, just to put this in perspective, the numbers I looked up, when you left the game, you had a net worth around 40 million. And today, it's, at least according to the various LLMs, it's about 1.6 billion. You had a 40x increase. Not bad.

• 20:06Speaker 01

  Not bad, not bad. I could have had a little bit more, but I'm not gonna go through that. So, we're playing Seattle, and I always like to know who's sitting on the floor of the game from opponents, because in case I wanna meet somebody.

• 20:27Peter Diamandis?

  Sure.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  So they said, "Oh, man, Howard Schultz sits and comes to the Seattle SuperSonics games." And I was like, I asked their PR person, "What seat does Howard Schultz sits in?" So I can go over and say hi to him and introduce myself. So he told me the number, I ran over there, said, "Hi, I'm Irvin Johnson, da-da-da. I would like to, next time that we come back to Seattle, I'd like to come and take you to lunch." And he said, "Well, that'll be great, but you don't have to take me, I'm gonna take you." I said, "Okay, yeah, you got more money than me, I get it." So, came back to Seattle, got together with him, and we had an amazing lunch.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  And I said, "Howard, I built Magic Johnson Theaters, and they're doing very well. We surprised everybody in the inner cities of America. Everybody thought, no way they could, you know, be successful. Well, my first theater came in top 10 highest grossing theaters in the nation."

• 21:29Peter Diamandis?

  Extraordinary.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  So it proved everybody wrong that you can invest in the inner cities and make money. Howard, I gave him the information about that. So he said, let's get together the next time you come back. So went back up to Seattle. Sure enough, we talked about, I told him, I think Starbucks would perform very well in the inner cities. Latinos and African Americans, we like coffee too, right? And sure enough, he said, let's take a look at it and see how you operate your, your movie theaters. He came down on a Friday. Whitney Houston's first movie was coming out, Wayne the Exhale. And I had five hundred black women wrapped around the corner.

• 22:13Speaker 01

  To get in to see this movie and we sold out every theater, right? And he said, wow. He saw the cash register ringing, making a lot of money. And then he finally got inside and said, wow. You know, this is great. And I forgot to tell him that we go to the movies a little different than everybody else. And as soon as the movie started, every woman in there started talking to the screen, girl. Why are you still with him? Dump him. And sure enough, he pulled me out and said, Magic, I've never had a movie going experience quite like this. You got the deal. Now, why did I get the deal? Couple of things.

• 22:58Speaker 01

  He saw what happened at the theater. Also, I drove him around the community. He saw these beautiful homes in urban America, well-kept. And some successful people living in those homes, right? And then I had to go before the board, they signed off. And then the shareholders meeting, probably the, the thing that I was most nervous about was the shareholders, they signed off. And so sure enough, I built a hundred twenty-five Starbucks in forty different markets across America. And they all were very, very successful. I sold them all back to Howard. And so, we created so many job opportunities. And then the last thing we created-

• 23:40Peter Diamandis?

  I think that was one of the most important things. I mean, you brought jobs to the markets you care about. And that's been a consistent part of your life. Over and over and over again.

• 23:49Speaker 01

  Bringing job opportunities, as well as giving suppliers, women-owned and minority-owned firms, giving them, those suppliers, contracts to deliver goods to us as-

• 24:02Peter Diamandis?

  Creating opportunities. And let's, let's give it up for that.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  And the only thing I had to change out was the music.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  You know, it wasn't gonna work what they were playing in the inner city. You know, so I had to bring in Lionel Richie, Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson. And so we had to tweak it. See, you always understand your customer.

• 24:29Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 24:30Speaker 01

  And how you can over-deliver to that customer.

• 24:32Peter Diamandis?

  So, we go on from there to Burger King, to TJF Friday, to Best Buy. What are the characteristics of a company that you would say, "Okay, I want to own a steak, or I want to promote that company"?

• 24:43Speaker 01

  Well, I think, you know, those were things that, Burger King is the headquarters in Miami.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  It was a situation where the owner had to get out. And so I could get it pennies on the dollar. I picked up about 40 of them.

• 25:01Speaker 01

  I was able to take the bottom line of these Burger Kings and drive them up. And sure enough, I just resold them, made a lot of money reselling them. I would say the fitness was more that minorities needed that. Because we didn't have no fitness clubs in our community. So it was a good thing to make sure that we had access to fitness clubs. They were making a lot of money as well, but it changed people's lives.

• 25:31Peter Diamandis?

  And, but people's-

• 25:32Speaker 01

  Diet, the whole thing.

• 25:33Peter Diamandis?

  People's, your connection to those opened it up as something that was accessible.

• 25:39Speaker 01

  That's right. And it proved to Fortune 500 companies that they can come into urban America and make money. That's, that's also why I did it. And so, I sold those back to 24 Hour Fitness. And, you know, so I'm all about how can I change urban America?

• 26:00Speaker 01

  How can I create jobs in those same communities that I grew up in? And then show people that people of color can be successful businessmen and women. And I was able to do that, and athletes as well.

• 26:14Peter Diamandis?

  Would you say that's your moonshot to really impact the communities around the world, up-level them?

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. And, and we've been able to do just that through all the different businesses.

• 26:29Peter Diamandis?

  And even real estate in Detroit, I mean, you went, you went heavy on trying to, in the revitalization of Detroit.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, not in, in Detroit, of course, but Los Angeles, all over the country. I had a real estate fund, we, we did 300 million, then we did 600 million, then we raised a billion dollars to, again, it's all about real estate. How do we make sure that we either build hotels or build different businesses in those communities? And, but they all had to win because it's not just enough for me to build them, but they have to be successful because I want other minorities to come behind me. And I was able to do that, open up institutional capital to other minorities because they turned me down five times.

• 27:17Peter Diamandis?

  Okay.

• 27:18Speaker 01

  So when I went up to Seattle to raise money, people turned me down because they didn't believe in urban America. So I knew I had to be successful.

• 27:26Peter Diamandis?

  Everybody, Peter here. If you're enjoying this episode, please help me get the message of abundance out to the world. We're truly living during the most extraordinary time ever in human history, and I want to get this mindset out to everyone. Please subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts, and turn on notifications so we can let you know when the next episode is being dropped. All right, back to our episode. Let's, let's pivot to the Washington commanders.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 27:58Peter Diamandis?

  So, tell us the story there.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Well, again.

• 28:04Peter Diamandis?

  We have some images in the background.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  First, first, I think NFL is a...

• 28:10Speaker 01

  There's a machine and there's no league that can even keep up or even come close to the NFL, making money wise, the power that it gives you. And so this was an easy decision for me to make, but also too, um, again, lacking minority ownership. So it was good for the NFL, good for the community, uh, in terms of Washington DC, or I should say the D N V. And so, um, we took this franchise that had been losing that, uh, previous ownership. It was, it was, it was tough. We took it for now, we've only for only two seasons, but look what happened.

• 28:55Speaker 01

  We drafted the right quarterback in Jaden Daniels and this season, thank you, um, we brought in forty new football players, got rid of forty and brought forty new ones in. And we go all the way to the NFC Championship game. And so, uh, we are really set up to have a long run. We, uh, the fans love the team again, um, and so we're excited about, you know, building this organization into a Super Bowl contending team. But the one thing we had to do was the morale of the employees were low. So I told my team, let me talk to the employees. You guys gonna handle the business, you know?

• 29:40Speaker 01

  So they all said something, but I said, I gotta let them know that we're gonna embrace them, that we're gonna respect them, that we're gonna value them and, uh, but we're gonna become a world-class organization.

• 29:54Peter Diamandis?

  Can you say, we have a lot of CEOs in the room here. Can you speak to the importance of, uh, having the CEO, the owners truly uplift and unify an organization? Cause I see, you know, sometimes organizations divided, sometimes organizations not performing at their peak. Um, did you bring those experiences from basketball into the organizations that you're owning and running?

• 30:20Speaker 01

  Oh, for sure. You know, because you only as good as your employees, right? Uh, we, everybody's sitting here today. The business is still running while we're sitting here. Each and every one of us, right? So we know we got great people who work for us. So, and you know, they wanna be patted on the back. They wanna be valued, they wanna be respected, so. Um, that's what we went in there to do. To tell them that we are here for them and, and we would listen to them because they gave us some great ideas too. And so, uh, how to improve everything because, um, uh, previous owner didn't put a lot of money into the stadium.

• 31:03Speaker 01

  Didn't put a lot of money into the team or the practice like. So we did all of those things and we just got a great grade from the NFL on how we improved everything. And so that was very important. So, we know that you wanna bring some experts together who can do their job. But also, when we need to, we gotta high five them. We gotta say, "Great job." And, uh, I believe in that because I come from team from sports. And when you come from sports, that's what it's all about.

• 31:33Peter Diamandis?

  But sometimes you also have to cut members of the team.

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I don't mind cutting them now. They're not doing their job. I'm, I'm going slice and dice.

• 31:41Peter Diamandis?

  So you hold a high, you hold, you hold a high standard for them and if they're not performing.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  I tell them all the time. You know, I'm driven to win.

• 31:51Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  And you have to do your job. And if you're not doing your job, then I love you, but we gotta get rid of you.

• 32:00Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 32:00Speaker 01

  And, um.

• 32:02Peter Diamandis?

  I think one of the problems is a lot of times people just wanna hold on.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  Can't do it.

• 32:07Peter Diamandis?

  You can't do that.

• 32:08Speaker 01

  Can't do it.

• 32:08Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Listen, I'm the first one in. I get up at four o'clock every morning.

• 32:13Peter Diamandis?

  Uh, you beat me, I'm up at five, so.

• 32:14Speaker 01

  And I work out for two hours and then I'm all, in the office all day. I'm gonna set the tone for my employees. I always have, always will, right? And then they buy into the vision that I set, right? And so, they know that winning's in my DNA and I'm gonna do things right. And so they had to follow that. Every woman and man in here, all the employees follow them. You know, and so, um, but.

• 32:43Speaker 01

  I'm gonna treat them fairly, I'm gonna pay them and go out and hopefully

• 32:47Peter Diamandis?

  And win together.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  That's right. Well, we have to.

• 32:50Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  We have to. I mean, we got executive teams, we got management teams, all of us, you know, and so, uh, we all gotta win together. And then I don't have to come up with every strategy because I got great people. They can come up with strategies to help us win. Hey, we're gonna roll with that strategy. I don't wanna be the only smart guy in the room.

• 33:11Peter Diamandis?

  Magic, I'd like to turn to health next. We have a lot of people in the health industry here. And it's been 30 years since you went public with your HIV diagnosis. I'd like to take you back there. We're gonna roll a quick video and let's talk about it.

• 33:26Speaker 01

  First of all, let me say good after late afternoon. Um, because of the HIV virus that I have attained, uh, I will have to retire from the Lakers today. Um, I just wanna make clear first of all that I do not have the AIDS disease, because I know a lot of you are concerned, wanna know that, but the HIV virus.

• 33:56Peter Diamandis?

  You're in your doctor's office. He comes out and he gives you his diagnosis, which for the last part of a decade has been a dozens. What's going through your mind? How do you go home and tell your wife Cookie?

• 34:17Speaker 01

  I think that was the hardest part. First, I thought I had did everything the right way. So to, I'm gonna answer that, because I can tell Magic is right here. I could've told him you was busy, you was hanging with me. Um, and so, getting that news, it was devastating news, no question about it. Um...

• 34:49Speaker 01

  And then, you know, you have to spend probably an hour just sitting there trying to comprehend this. I mean, you're at the peak of your career. Yeah. The last thing you expect to hear. Yeah, the last thing I expected to hear, um, we'd just been to three straight NBA Finals. Amazing. And won two of those, lost that one, and then I'm coming and receiving this news and, um... Your wife was pregnant. Yeah, with our son, EJ. So the hardest thing, Peter, was not me dealing with it, but actually going home to tell my wife. Yeah.

• 35:27Speaker 01

  And we had just gotten married. She's pregnant. And as soon as I hit the door, she knew something was wrong. She already knew it. And, uh, she said, "What's going on?" And so I sat her down and I began to tell her I had HIV. And of course, she started crying, not knowing what it meant for her and the baby. And, uh, I'm, so I'm letting her just really digest what I just told her. And then, uh, I told her I could understand if you want to leave me. Yeah. And, uh, it took about five minutes to, for that to register to her, then she stood up and smacked me right upside my head.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  True story. And she said, uh, "We're gonna beat this together."

• 36:15Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  And so, just at that moment, that's when I knew I had a, a chance. So... That's, uh, that's amazing. Um, you're a lucky man. Yeah, no, I, I understand that. And because support system, to beat anything like this, you need your support system. I needed her, my parents, my brothers and sisters. And so, um...

• 36:45Speaker 01

  So we just got dropped to our knees and started praying and then from that I'm a I'm a guy who always got to know everything. So I started researching and I found out that Dr. Ho was one of the leading doctors in the world and I called him up and went to see him in New York and he really gave me a great regimen for me to and drugs but also educated me.

• 37:13Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 37:14Speaker 01

  He educated me about the virus and what it meant to me. And so here I am 33 years later.

• 37:21Peter Diamandis?

  And I have to say, looking amazing. I mean, compared to your, you know, the video 30 years ago, I think you could look even better right now.

• 37:32Speaker 01

  Everything is good. I get in that gym and take my meds, but the main thing was I got to give a lady who actually died, and that was Elizabeth Glaser, saved my life. Yeah. So she, so as I was doing my research, I had Dr. Ho, but then she was the face of it at that time. And so I went to go see Elizabeth and she told me, Irvin, you're gonna be here a long time because there's so many great drugs coming down the pipeline. She said, but I need you to do one thing and that's become the face of it and get involved.

• 38:14Speaker 01

  So I did that and not too long after that she passed away. And then I met Elizabeth Taylor, who then was, that was her whole mission. And so we all, her and I partner up and we, for 20 years, we raised money for HIV and AIDS and I'm still doing that today.

• 38:38Peter Diamandis?

  Extraordinary.

• 38:39Speaker 01

  So it's been a blessing, but what a journey. And

• 38:44Speaker 01

  So.

• 38:45Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah, are you still, you're still using the same antivirals?

• 38:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, it's the same thing, the three drug cocktail, nothing has changed until Dr. Ho tell me something to do something different. But you and I said, there's some great things coming, so I'm gonna lean on you too.

• 39:05Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah, sure, I know one of our speakers tomorrow, Lou Rees, has got a company called Kind of Life, and it's a monoclonal. One of the biggest challenges, I don't know if you think about this, is the multi-drug resistance, you know, the HIV virus continues to mutate.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  Right.

• 39:22Peter Diamandis?

  So, being able to solve that, and there's incredible research, their particular monoclonal's been 100% resistant against all viral mutations.

• 39:34Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 39:35Peter Diamandis?

  And so, it's a cover of Nature this week. I think science is doing extraordinary things for humanity.

• 39:43Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. In all areas. That's why it's so important, this conference. And let me thank all of you, because you've helped people like myself live a long productive life. And when you think about the science, you think about the doctors, you think about, I should say scientists, think about everybody coming together to help so many people around the world, not just here in America. It's been amazing. And just think about this, when I think about going back, you know, 33 years ago, AZT was the only drug. Just think about that.

• 40:28Speaker 01

  One drug, right? And now, what, it's over 40, I think, somewhere around there.

• 40:32Peter Diamandis?

  I lost my best friend in the early 80s to HIV, and if he'd just been able to hold on a little bit longer. Timing is everything.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 40:43Peter Diamandis?

  You know, there's a big debate right now in our political system about, you know, funding public research and public health right now. Is there a message you want to send people about that?

• 40:56Speaker 01

  No, listen.

• 40:57Peter Diamandis?

  I don't get into politics, but I'm just curious if you want to...

• 41:00Speaker 01

  We have so many people who depend on that public funding.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  And this is not about Democrats, independents, or Republicans. It's not about that. It's about life, right? So, um, when you think about federal government, the state government, the local government, we need that funding because a lot of people are going to be hurt and may die because they can't pay for their drugs. And so that's what this is about. So I don't want anybody to think that it's nothing other than we need to help these people. Listen.

• 41:42Peter Diamandis?

  At this level of society, with the level of abundance that we have.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:47Peter Diamandis?

  We owe a debt of gratitude and the ability to uplift everybody together.

• 41:51Speaker 01

  That's all it is, you know, so I'm hoping that the funding is there, that we can continue to help people who can't afford to pay for their drugs and their meds. Um, I know I work with different organizations who supply the drugs for the people who can't pay.

• 42:12Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  And it's been beautiful. I know we've done a lot of that work from the Magic Johnson Foundation as well. So we hope that we get that funding. It's gonna be important. And, uh, man, we just got too many resources to not help people. You know, we gotta all be about that. How do we help people? You know, how do we give back to people? How do we help communities? That's what America is built on.

• 42:37Peter Diamandis?

  It's what gives life meaning.

• 42:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:39Peter Diamandis?

  At the end of the day, you know, no one gets points for dying with the most money.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:43Peter Diamandis?

  You get points for supporting and uplifting the most people.

• 42:47Speaker 01

  Exactly. And see, we're dealing with that and there was, I'm still dealing with the LA fires, so.

• 42:52Peter Diamandis?

  I was just, so I have two last questions. I have two last questions. Let's dive into that one. So Governor Newsom just appointed you to help revitalize LA. So I'm still out of my house. We're living Santa Monica Palisades border. We're one of the lucky ones. Our house is still standing, but we're going through two months of remediation.

• 43:10Speaker 01

  Right.

• 43:11Peter Diamandis?

  And incredible, incredible damage. I'm very proud. One of my organizations.

• 43:16Peter Diamandis?

  is called the X Prize. We put up these large cash prizes to solve problems. We've got one for reversing aging 20 years, which I hope will all benefit from.

• 43:25Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:26Peter Diamandis?

  And we have an $11 million prize for wildfire detection and extinction.

• 43:30Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 43:30Peter Diamandis?

  And to win this, teams have to like monitor a city or region.

• 43:35Speaker 01

  Right.

• 43:36Peter Diamandis?

  And if you see a fire that's two meters or bigger, if it's bigger than you.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  Right.

• 43:40Peter Diamandis?

  Right? Or it's moving, put it out within 10 minutes automatically.

• 43:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:47Peter Diamandis?

  What's your vision for where LA is going? I'm curious. I live there.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  Well, I think that when the governor called me and wanted me to help, he had had somebody who was going to handle Pacific Palisades. He wanted me to deal with Altadena. And it's probably an 80% African-American community.

• 44:09Peter Diamandis?

  Sure.

• 44:09Speaker 01

  And what he was concerned about was those people were selling their land. People were taking advantage of them.

• 44:17Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 44:17Speaker 01

  Their land is worth millions and millions of dollars, but they were selling it only for a couple hundred thousand. So.

• 44:25Peter Diamandis?

  They're scared?

• 44:26Speaker 01

  They're scared, don't have anything. So what I did was a couple PSAs to tell them to hold on to their land, get what it's worth. In terms of, if you're gonna sell it, make sure you know what it's worth and get that money, right? And so, these are things that we're talking about. And then, so many other things that they need. Clothes, food. So we're dealing with all those things. So, I love giving back, man. I've, listen, I've been blessed over and over and over again. Now, my whole mission is life, in life, is how do I bless other people?

• 45:00Peter Diamandis?

  Right.

• 45:00Speaker 01

  And so, these fires have just devastated, what, four or five communities? And I'm gonna, I'm gonna get to work and try to help those people as much as I can. And I've always been involved anyway, so this is just another thing that I'm gonna be involved with. And so.

• 45:20Peter Diamandis?

  I want to close out on the combined question.

• 45:26Peter Diamandis?

  You're going back to a younger version of magic. What advice would you give yourself as a kid? In your career here, the other is, you got so much from your parents. From your mom, your dad, work ethic, the, you know, attention to detail. All of those things. What advice do you have for parents? I have two 13-year-old boys. I'm always looking for great advice. Can you, can you talk about advice you'd give yourself? And what advice you, you suggest to parents today?

• 45:58Speaker 01

  Well, you know, listen, I got three kids, two grandchildren now, right in that age, 16 and 13. And, you know, I, it's so funny. You know, we come to dinner and all five of them have them cell phones. And I, and I, I make them go all the way back out the door. Go back, put them cell phones up. You, you're gonna give me two hours. Because if you go in restaurants now, nobody's talking. Right? You look at every table. When we used to have a great time at restaurants, nobody was on cell phones, you know? They were just talking. And so I tell my kids, uh-uh.

• 46:42Speaker 01

  I just wanna know what you've been doing, how you're doing, how's school going, on and on and on.

• 46:48Peter Diamandis?

  And it's the hardest thing to rip out of my kids.

• 46:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, well, I gotta rule. When we go on vacation, they gotta leave them.

• 46:54Peter Diamandis?

  Yeah.

• 46:54Speaker 01

  They just gotta leave them. And so, and what happens? Everybody is talking.

• 46:59Peter Diamandis?

  Playing games, having fun, yeah.

• 47:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, you, you, two hours, you can give me two hours. You know, so, oh, you wanna be on this vacation? Oh, you gonna give me two hours. See, I know how to get them. Oh, you think you're going out tonight? Uh, there's only one credit card in this family.

• 47:17Speaker 01

  See, and so, and so they say, "Okay Dad." And then they turn out, they love it. And now they do karaoke nights with each other and we're sitting there. See, we gotta bring us back to the family. Yes. And so, uh, uh, that's been good. And when I think about how I grew up and, um, listen, I was so blessed. We were poor, but we never knew we were poor. Hmm. Cause there was so much love in the house. And, and my parents always encouraged us to dream big, but you need an education. Yeah. And education can take you anywhere you wanna go. And so, all of us, I have, four of my sisters are teachers, right?

• 48:02Speaker 01

  And, uh, they love to teach, give back to the kids and, uh, when I think about, uh, I never regret anything, I never look back. My childhood was excellent because I had my parents. Hmm. And, um, my father, I took his work ethic and he worked for General Motors for thirty years, never missed a day, never was late. And guess who's built just like? My, my, my love here told me what time to be here, I was early. I'm always gonna be early. I get to every meeting an hour ahead of time. And, uh, I'm a very disciplined man and, uh, and so, uh, and then I got my mother's smile.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  And, uh, and I got her heart. Yes, you do. My mother taught us, this, Peter, I couldn't believe this. So, we're lining up for dinner. And when you got ten kids, wow. So, my mother would go around from everybody's plate and take a spoon from everybody's plate and make four or five other plates. She would then put them, wrap them up, put them in bags, said, "Junior," she can call me Junior, "go delivery, deliver these to the lady across the street. She's seventy-five, she can't cook for herself. Go down the street, deliver this one." And I said, "Mom, we don't even have enough."

• 49:32Speaker 01

  You're gonna go and learn that you have to give back and help people. So she taught me that as a little boy. So what am I doing now? Helping people, giving back because of my mother. And so, uh, I just want to say to all of you, thank you for your heart. Thank you for what you do. Leaders in this country doing great things. Not only, it's like the double bottom line, right? I, I believe in that you can make money, but also too, you can make an impact on giving back. And that's the double bottom line to me. So continue to do what you're doing.

• 50:10Peter Diamandis?

  Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up. Everybody, thanks for listening to Moon Shots. You know, this is the content I love sharing with the world. Every week I put out two blogs, a lot of it from the content here, but these are my personal journals, the things that I'm learning, the conversations I'm having about AI, about longevity, about the important technology transforming all of our worlds. If you're interested, again, please join me and subscribe at dmantis.com/subscribe. That's dmantis.com/subscribe. See you next week on Moon Shots.

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