October 8, 2025 • 7 mins
15-time NBA All-Star and philanthropist Shaquille O'Neal announces that he is stepping into the infrastructure space with Jacmel Infrastructure as Founding Partner. He speaks with host Romaine Bostick alongside Jorge Mora, Co-Managing Partner at Jacmel Partners about the deal and why this new venture is personal.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, he's a fifteen time NBA All Star, a philanthropist,
and now Shaquille O'Neil is stepping into the infrastructure space.
The NBA legend is joining Jackmail Infrastructure as a founding partner.
Earlier today, Romaine spoke with Jorge Mora, co managing partner
at Jackmail Partners and Shack about why this new venture
is personal.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Well, you know, there's a tremendous need in the US
for better infrastructure.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
You know, you see it in your roads.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You're seeing your airports, your train stations, and I want
to help make that change, and you know, Jack mel
is the partner that can help me do that. You know,
when I'm at Jorge and Nick, you know they approached me,
and you know we kind of have the same values.
I like to invest my time and money where it
can make a difference in people's lives and have a positive,
positive impact on the community. So I thought it was
(00:56):
the right thing to do because I live in a
town where we need, definitely need better infrastructure. So I could,
you know, partner with a company like Jack Mail. I'll
do it every time.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And a lot of cities of course across the US.
Shaquille are in that same position. I mean, one of
the deals that the infrastructure project had been involved in was,
of course, the redesign and redevelopment, if you will, of
LaGuardia Airport in New York and check. I mean, as
somebody who spent you know, nineteen twenty years in the NBA,
I'm sure you've been to pretty much every airport in
the United States and beyond. When you look at the
(01:29):
infrastructure in the transportation space, what does it say to you?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
But it says that, you know, whoever has the contract
is doing a great job. And I know the work
that Jack Mail doesn't. My hometown is nort and part
of the airport has already been redone. You know, I
would definitely love to be involved in, you know, the
expansion of that one. But you know, as long as
we have companies like Jack Mail doing that thing and
you know, bring in bringing what they bring to the table,
(01:57):
it's beautiful. So what they did with with with thought,
you know, LaGuardia is definitely why I wanted to be
their teammates. You know, every time I win a championship
is because I have great teammates, you know, going with Kobe.
I'm winning in a broadcast with your best friend Charles Barkley,
So I want to also win a championship in the
infrastructure space.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So Ari, I am curious that with regards to the
projects going on through the Investment Infrastructure Fund I mentioned,
of course, so what went on in LaGuardia also a
big project at JFK Heartsfield down in Atlanta. Is your
focus going to primarily be in I guess the aviation
space or are you looking to do something more broadly?
Speaker 5 (02:37):
We're gonna be looking at other spaces.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
I mean the transportation space in particular is one of
our core focuses. And we also recently did an investment
into the energy space. Unfortunately we can't disclose it, but
it was a large, almost one hundred million dollar investment.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And then we're also going to look at digital.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
What we try to do is we try to pair
the competency that we have in house with the different
sectors we're investing in.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
In the digital space.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
We happen to have a senior advisor who has done
an enormous amount of investing in digital for the last
twenty five years. In transportation We happen to own a
design engineering firm that has worked in close to one
hundred airports in the US, and so we're trying to
stick to what we know what we can bring some
added value, and then by having Shaquille as one of
(03:27):
our founding partners, we can really focus on the community
engagement into those big projects.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
We mentioned a couple of times. If you've flown in.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Or at a LaGuardia, you can see that there's all
these local businesses that are in the terminal, restaurants, et cetera.
And it also has the impact on the employment in
the community. So our value add is that we're going
to try to bring that organic and more natural connectivity
that a group like Chuck Malcolm bring to a project
like that when partnering with large infrastructure investors is either
(04:00):
strategic or financial.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, we'll expand on that a little bit because I mean,
as someone who goes through LaGuardia almost every other week,
it's very obvious that there is an intent with that
redesign to highlight local businesses and I am curious as
to what that conversation looks like. Orgey, are you you're
talking with the airport authority or are you talking with
just the local government leaders. What is that conversation.
Speaker 6 (04:24):
It's a combination of all of that, right, It's understanding
which businesses in the local community.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
We will on bring in. What also, what investors.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
From the local community we would like to group into
our investment group to just tie to the community, to
make sure that their needs are being listened to. So
in any new project, for example, Newark has been talked about,
it hasn't been announced yet, hopefully it will be in
the next few months or year when that happens. Having
Shaquille as our partner, having the fact that he grew
(04:56):
up there, I think we'll give an edge to any
group that we work with in UH in delivering that
community and engaging with him properly.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Maybe Schulle, you can talk just a little bit about
Newark and your connections there. Obviously you were raised there
and you've been a big investor there a long prior
to this deal with Jack mol Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
When I met with Jorge, I think I told him
I wanted the business that's going to have positive impact
on local community. Born and raised in the North through
in and out of the Nork Airport UH many times,
and you know would love to be a part of
you know project, you know that just you know those
with the legacy. You have a kid who was a
meeting with juvenile delinquent. Now he's partnering with the company
(05:40):
like Jack mel and we're redoing the airport. You know,
we're making the airport better. So you know, this would
be big if we could out land that deal. But again,
when when I met with nickod Hore, I told him myself,
I want to positive impact on local community.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That's all we want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
We want to you know, help create jobs, you know,
just with whatever it does make the community better.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
That's definitely that I want to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Do you have any ambitions for having more deeper ownership
in the sports world in terms of sports franchises?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Actually no, I've always been the I can remember when
I was taking my business marketing class, professor gave me
a book on the side. He said it was the
Dummiest Guy of Starting your Own Business, And.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
My favorite chapter was joint Ventureship.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Because I realized that in order to be a great leader,
you have to have people that are smarter than you
as teammates. So I applied basketball to business and I
was like, you know what, I need to get guys
that are better in whatever space I'm trying to invest
in than I am. Imagine me trying to run a
five guys by myself. Imagine me, you know, trying to
run Rebunk by myself. Imagine me trying to do this
(06:50):
infrastructure by myself. So you have to get great teammates.
I mentioned this earlier. I won championships with Kobe, Bryant
d Wade. I'm winning with Ernie, Kenny and Chuck, So
you know, when it comes to, you know, finding great partners,
Jorge and Nick are the best in this business and
we will definitely win
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, he's a fifteen time NBA All Star, a philanthropist,
and now Shaquille O'Neil is stepping into the infrastructure space.
The NBA legend is joining Jackmail Infrastructure as a founding partner.
Earlier today, Romaine spoke with Jorge Mora, co managing partner
at Jackmail Partners and Shack about why this new venture
is personal.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Well, you know, there's a tremendous need in the US
for better infrastructure.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
You know, you see it in your roads.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You're seeing your airports, your train stations, and I want
to help make that change, and you know, Jack mel
is the partner that can help me do that. You know,
when I'm at Jorge and Nick, you know they approached me,
and you know we kind of have the same values.
I like to invest my time and money where it
can make a difference in people's lives and have a positive,
positive impact on the community. So I thought it was
(00:56):
the right thing to do because I live in a
town where we need, definitely need better infrastructure. So I could,
you know, partner with a company like Jack Mail. I'll
do it every time.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And a lot of cities of course across the US.
Shaquille are in that same position. I mean, one of
the deals that the infrastructure project had been involved in was,
of course, the redesign and redevelopment, if you will, of
LaGuardia Airport in New York and check. I mean, as
somebody who spent you know, nineteen twenty years in the NBA,
I'm sure you've been to pretty much every airport in
the United States and beyond. When you look at the
(01:29):
infrastructure in the transportation space, what does it say to you?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
But it says that, you know, whoever has the contract
is doing a great job. And I know the work
that Jack Mail doesn't. My hometown is nort and part
of the airport has already been redone. You know, I
would definitely love to be involved in, you know, the
expansion of that one. But you know, as long as
we have companies like Jack Mail doing that thing and
you know, bring in bringing what they bring to the table,
(01:57):
it's beautiful. So what they did with with with thought,
you know, LaGuardia is definitely why I wanted to be
their teammates. You know, every time I win a championship
is because I have great teammates, you know, going with Kobe.
I'm winning in a broadcast with your best friend Charles Barkley,
So I want to also win a championship in the
infrastructure space.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So Ari, I am curious that with regards to the
projects going on through the Investment Infrastructure Fund I mentioned,
of course, so what went on in LaGuardia also a
big project at JFK Heartsfield down in Atlanta. Is your
focus going to primarily be in I guess the aviation
space or are you looking to do something more broadly?
Speaker 5 (02:37):
We're gonna be looking at other spaces.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
I mean the transportation space in particular is one of
our core focuses. And we also recently did an investment
into the energy space. Unfortunately we can't disclose it, but
it was a large, almost one hundred million dollar investment.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And then we're also going to look at digital.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
What we try to do is we try to pair
the competency that we have in house with the different
sectors we're investing in.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
In the digital space.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
We happen to have a senior advisor who has done
an enormous amount of investing in digital for the last
twenty five years. In transportation We happen to own a
design engineering firm that has worked in close to one
hundred airports in the US, and so we're trying to
stick to what we know what we can bring some
added value, and then by having Shaquille as one of
(03:27):
our founding partners, we can really focus on the community
engagement into those big projects.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
We mentioned a couple of times. If you've flown in.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Or at a LaGuardia, you can see that there's all
these local businesses that are in the terminal, restaurants, et cetera.
And it also has the impact on the employment in
the community. So our value add is that we're going
to try to bring that organic and more natural connectivity
that a group like Chuck Malcolm bring to a project
like that when partnering with large infrastructure investors is either
(04:00):
strategic or financial.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, we'll expand on that a little bit because I mean,
as someone who goes through LaGuardia almost every other week,
it's very obvious that there is an intent with that
redesign to highlight local businesses and I am curious as
to what that conversation looks like. Orgey, are you you're
talking with the airport authority or are you talking with
just the local government leaders. What is that conversation.
Speaker 6 (04:24):
It's a combination of all of that, right, It's understanding
which businesses in the local community.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
We will on bring in. What also, what investors.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
From the local community we would like to group into
our investment group to just tie to the community, to
make sure that their needs are being listened to. So
in any new project, for example, Newark has been talked about,
it hasn't been announced yet, hopefully it will be in
the next few months or year when that happens. Having
Shaquille as our partner, having the fact that he grew
(04:56):
up there, I think we'll give an edge to any
group that we work with in UH in delivering that
community and engaging with him properly.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Maybe Schulle, you can talk just a little bit about
Newark and your connections there. Obviously you were raised there
and you've been a big investor there a long prior
to this deal with Jack mol Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
When I met with Jorge, I think I told him
I wanted the business that's going to have positive impact
on local community. Born and raised in the North through
in and out of the Nork Airport UH many times,
and you know would love to be a part of
you know project, you know that just you know those
with the legacy. You have a kid who was a
meeting with juvenile delinquent. Now he's partnering with the company
(05:40):
like Jack mel and we're redoing the airport. You know,
we're making the airport better. So you know, this would
be big if we could out land that deal. But again,
when when I met with nickod Hore, I told him myself,
I want to positive impact on local community.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That's all we want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
We want to you know, help create jobs, you know,
just with whatever it does make the community better.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
That's definitely that I want to be a part of.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Do you have any ambitions for having more deeper ownership
in the sports world in terms of sports franchises?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Actually no, I've always been the I can remember when
I was taking my business marketing class, professor gave me
a book on the side. He said it was the
Dummiest Guy of Starting your Own Business, And.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
My favorite chapter was joint Ventureship.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Because I realized that in order to be a great leader,
you have to have people that are smarter than you
as teammates. So I applied basketball to business and I
was like, you know what, I need to get guys
that are better in whatever space I'm trying to invest
in than I am. Imagine me trying to run a
five guys by myself. Imagine me, you know, trying to
run Rebunk by myself. Imagine me trying to do this
(06:50):
infrastructure by myself. So you have to get great teammates.
I mentioned this earlier. I won championships with Kobe, Bryant
d Wade. I'm winning with Ernie, Kenny and Chuck, So
you know, when it comes to, you know, finding great partners,
Jorge and Nick are the best in this business and
we will definitely win
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