After Alex Rodriguez stopped playing for the New York Yankees, he started focusing on investing in businesses and running his own. No wonder Shark Tank scooped him up as a guest judge. With the money he has, he’s a perfect fit for the show.
A Brief History Of Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez was born in New York and briefly lived in the Dominican Republic, where his dad played professional baseball. His dad’s passion for it is what drove Alex to become a baseball player himself. He started playing while they still lived in the Dominican Republic.
Then the family moved to Miami, so Alex went to high school there. He played football and baseball for the school. His original plan was to move on to the University of Miami and keep playing baseball.But in the MLB draft, he got recruited to play for the Seattle Mariners. They offered him a three-year contract worth $1.3 million.
After he played out that contract, he moved on to the Texas Rangers. Even though he signed a 10-year contract with the team, he ended up being transferred to the Yankees.
Alex Rodriguez’s Net Worth
Playing professional baseball really paid off for Alex. When he first started on Shark Tank, his net worth was estimated to be about $300 million.
Qualifying For Shark Tank
If anybody has the credentials to guest judge Shark Tank, it’s Alex Rodriguez. He used the money he made from the Yankees to invest in assets. So no matter what happens, he’s never going to go broke.
His plan was to own five assets that would basically fund the rest of his life. So he started his own company. It’s called AROD Corp, and under this company he owns fitness clubs and a car dealership. He used the money from those assets to invest in Shark Tank contestants.
Alex’s Shark Tank Investments
Slice of Sauce
It’s hit or miss when it comes to pitching products on Shark Tank. But Alex must have seen something in a company called Slice of Sauce. Cole and Emily Williams managed to convince him to invest in their company. They took condiments like ketchup and created slices that look like Fruit Roll Ups.
Probably because he has four kids, this product appealed to him. So he offered them a $200,000 investment. But to get it, they had to reassure him sales would be strong. He told them that if they couldn’t meet their projected sales numbers, he’d consider the deal dead.
Cole and Emily were not thrilled with this stipulation. They made him a counter offer that he took. He agreed to convert that $200,000 into equity as soon as they hit sales of $1.8 million. When he did, Mark Cuban tried to pitch a counter offer to Cole and Emily. But Alex played hardball and said if they heard Mark’s deal, he’d take his back.
Ice Shaker
Alex also invested in a company called Ice Shaker. It’s run by Chris Gronkowski, who’s Rob Gronkowski’s brother. This was an easier deal for him to make than Slice of Sauce was. Chris accepted offers from Alex and Mark Cuban. Between the two of them, they invested $150,000 in the company. That gave each of them a 15% stake in ownership.
Chris got a good deal from these two. He originally only went in to this asking for $100,000 and only a 10% stake from the investor. He was more interested in getting their experience in business than their money.
Bubbly Blaster
Ice Shaker wasn’t the only product that Mark Cuban and Alex Rodriguez invested in. They also invested in one called Bubbly Blaster. It’s designed like a water gun, but you use it to shoot out champagne. Its owners explained the idea came from a celebration with friends.
When they popped the cork on the champagne bottle, the spray died out pretty quickly. That’s when they got the idea of creating a squirt gun that you could shoot champagne out of. All you have to do is attach it to a bottle and spray.The owners may have attracted Alex to it by pointing out it would be great for celebrating wins in the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA.
Alex and Mark were so impressed with the pitch that they invested $180,000 in it. That gets them 30% equity.
Alex’s Worst Shark Tank Investment
By far, the worst investment Alex made on Shark Tank was for a company that created Keto-friendly cookies. The brand was called NUI, and they marketed it as a cookie with lots of saturated fats but no extra sugar added. Despite his investment of $300,000, the company never went anywhere.
Alex’s Best Shark Tank Investment
Alex successfully invested in Vade Nutrition. Megan and Joe Johnson created protein power pods. The idea was to make it easy to have protein drinks without making a mess. The pods are edible and can be blended or shaken.
But Megan and Joe made a crucial mistake along the way. They paid for $50,000 worth of protein pods to present at a fitness expo. But when they got it, the pods weren’t the right flavor. They couldn’t sell or even give away those pods. But at the same time, their supplier refused to refund the money they spent.
The deal they were looking for was $250,000. This would get the investor a 10% stake. Collectively, Alex and Mark made them an offer of $700,000. But to get the deal, they had to agree to a 40% stake. Though at first they didn’t want to, they caved and took the deal. It probably helped that Alex told them he could potentially get their product into 1,000 gyms.
Some of the most successful investments Alex Rodriguez made during Shark Tank were with Mark Cuban. The two of them were unstoppable.
