March 27, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode of The Deal, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly talk with Mike Repole about how he built two beverage empires with Vitamin Water and BodyArmor. Repole tells the hosts why it’s important for him to share equity with everyone at his company, how he worked with huge investors like Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady, and why he thinks it’s important for entrepreneurs to fail.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm your host, Jason Kelly, back with my partner Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're in Miami. I'm in New York.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Coming up later on the show, We've got Mike Ropoli.
Oh my god, this guy, the two of you, it
was it was just like a comedy show, like what
is your deal with Mike Ropoli.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You know, Big Mike's from the Big Apple and you
know he went to Saint John's. But he's got a
personality bigger than the Big Apple. I mean, he is
bigger than life. Everything he does is huge, whether it's
everything he's done in the soft drink business, in horses,
and his latest project with Saint John's has been nothing
but spectacular, while bringing in Rick Patino and really supporting
(00:53):
that program from eight to eight.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, well, sadly for him and probably good for us.
We recorded this prior to this week because he would
be in his bag, as the kids say, this week,
because Saint John's went out with a bit of a whimper.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It was.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
I was gonna say it's hard to watch. It was
hard to watch for Micropol.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I will say it was not as hard for me
to watch as a Georgetown guy, because I don't like
Saint John's at all. I mean, they have had Georgetown's
number for a long time. But you know, to your point,
he has invested, Mike has heavily into that program. It's
a real window into the business of college sports and
how much money is at stake with nil with a
(01:32):
transfer portal. They have built an incredible program and as
you say, it's just the latest thing that he's built.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I mean, what a career vitamin water.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I feel like is one of those signature deals where
equity really came to the four for the athletes and
the celebrities who were involved. I have to think that
caught your attention when when it was going down right.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and no question about it, it was a watershed moment
for all athletes and entertainers, especially when you read the
numbers of fifty cents and David Wright, and you know
Kobe's also been in other of his partnerships, and that's
when the light went up for all athletes. And then
Sanders said, wait a minute, maybe there's an opportunity to
get equity and build real wealth versus just you know,
(02:14):
collecting a check. But again, you've got to give Micropoli credit.
He's a pioneer all throughout. He jokes around him being
a c student at Saint John's, but he's truly one
of the smartest people that I've ever met. Eq Iq.
He can be a stand up comedian. As you saw,
he is psychony and then he's fearless Jason, that's the
one thing. And he has an incredible work ethic that
(02:36):
comes from his parents.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
I mean, he's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I've never seen anyone who has your number like this guy.
So I do want to mention March Madness because a
couple of things. First of all, later this week, you
and I are headed to Atlanta. We're going to do
an event with our friends at Invesco. We're going to
talk to the athletic director of Georgia Tech all about
the business of college sports, March Madness, everything that's happening there.
I get to show you around my hometown a little bit.
(02:59):
That's gonna be really fun. I've spent a lot of
time in Miami. Now you get to spend at least
a little bit of time in Atlanta. I mean, you've
been out to Truest Park and you've you know, played
the braves and stuff, but you know, like hanging out
in Atlanta with me, that's a different thing. But the
other thing I wanted to mention related to March madness.
I know you've been watching the tournament, maybe even a
little more closely this year because we've brought you into
(03:20):
the fold brackets for a cause, which is the huge
charity thing that we do here at Bloomberg. My colleague
and friend Peter Grower, our chairman emeritus, who I believe
you met for the first time just a few weeks ago.
We roped you in and I bet you're paying a
little more attention to your bracket, right there's money on
the line.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I really am, And you know, anytime this is the deal,
when money's a probably pay closer attention, you know.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
But you know, talking about Peter, who.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Was the great host with you that night, I mean,
what an incredible role model. I mean, this guy has
the passion of like a fifty year old. He is
like so full of great energy. He told this beautiful story.
Thank you so much. Jason Fort, Kelly and I to dinner.
We had an awesome time and we hope we get
invited back. But yes, I am paying close attention to
(04:06):
my brackets.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and so just for our listeners out there, So
this is something I've worked on for the past nine
or ten years here at Bloomberg.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's called Brackets for a Cause.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And we get, you know, really important influential folks like yourself.
We get David Solomon, the Sea of Goldman Sachs, John Gray,
the president of Blackstone Cliffastist, Dwight Anderson, some really well
known hedge fund managers. Joe Reese from Helena Capitol who's
worked across Wall Street, Jenny Johnson who runs Templeton, Michelle
(04:35):
Side who ran Russell Investments for a long time.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I mean, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Carolyn Tish Blodjack co Yeah, Gary Kohane of course, the
vice chairman of IBM. And what's cool is everybody pledges
twenty thousand dollars they pick a charity. We have a
record sixty one people playing this year, which means so
you as you know, you picked your men's bracket and
your women's bracket. So more than six hundred thousand dollars
is in each of those pools, and the winner gets
(05:00):
fifty percent of that money to their charity. So you're playing,
I believe for the Boys and Girls Club of Miami Dade.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So their set.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
If you can pull it off, they're set for a
big payday, Jason.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
For you, six hundred thousand is pocket change and public
for me, I mean, for us humble people from the ground.
I mean, this is real life changing money.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And what's funny is we have heard I mean, it's
not funny, it's amazing. We've heard over the years that
you know, this is money that really can change the
trajectory of an individual charity. So it's really cool. I'm super,
super excited that you're evolved. So we're watching the brackets
closely and again we're gonna be in Atlanta. We're going
(05:41):
to talk a lot about March Madais. It's been a
fun tournament so far. Although I will say one of
the interesting things, you know, talking about the deal and
the business of college basketball, there have been We're going
to talk about this with the athletic director of Georgia Tech.
There have actually been fewer upsets. There are fewer Cinderella
teams because of the trans for a portal like the
(06:01):
teams are really stacked at the highest level and so
you don't have these teams sort of coming out of nowhere.
It actually has had a profound effect on the tournament.
I think so kind of fascinating. I'm not sure people
saw that coming.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
This is such a different time now with where college
basketball is today, with the nil and players being able
to move. I mean I saw one interview from Rick
Patino that he actually said, we're not looking at one
high school player this summer, which for me was like,
I couldn't even comprehend it because we grew up Jason
(06:35):
with you go.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
After high school.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, Donald's all American.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So I think what you're seeing is these are pro
players that happen to be in college and it becomes
a lot more predictable because you bringing in kids that
are twenty one to twenty three to twenty four year olds.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
And I think that's taken.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
A little bit of the upset away from the tournament.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And you know it's happening in the men's game, it's
happening in the women's game as well. So we'll see,
you know, ultimately who comes out Sweet sixteen obviously starts
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
People are gonna be watching that very closely.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
All right, coming up, Micropoly, he is gonna have me
and Stitches making fun of you, and so people really
need to tune into that because it's the side of
you I've never seen and a guy who has been
wildly successful across all aspects of sports and business.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So that's coming up, Jason, I have to say one
thing about Micropoley. So Tom Brady had his roast on Netflix. Yeah,
I'm gonna put We're gonna position this as the a
Rod roast on Bloomberg because that's exactly.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
What it was.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Oh my god, it was unbelievable, unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
All Right, we're super, super excited to have Micropoley with us.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I have to say, like having been a part of
a little pre show, Alex, I've never quite seen your
react to another human being quite like this, and I'm
so excited to get into it. Mike, thank you so
much for joining us. We have so much to talk
to you about. But I mean, let's talk about what
I just alluded to, which is you guys know each
other really well. You you know, looked at deals together.
(08:11):
Do you remember the first time I'm just opening you up,
but do you remember the first time you met Alex
Rodrick Guz.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
We were actually introduced by a banker, JP Morgan. After
they introduced me to Alex, I stopped using them because
I didn't really I didn't like who they were referring
me to. So uh. But but we we had a
like this personality and this banter that we have, We've
had like day one, like it never stopped. You know.
(08:38):
One thing about Alex is I'm very funny, and he
tries to be funny. So it's cool to watch that.
But you know what, when he says something funny to me,
I laugh, And when I say something funny to him,
he laughs. And it's a very good personality when you
actually like getting ripped on as much as you like
ripping people. And obviously no sensitivities, no insecurities, you know,
(08:59):
a great French where you can just be yourself and
say whatever you want.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It's interesting because, you know, being introduced by a banker.
That's sort of interesting to me. Again, like when you
think about like how you normally get introduced to athletes,
It's like, oh, I was at a game and I
was with my buddy and we went into the locker
room and there's this guy. It's like there aren't many
athletes who get introduced to by a banker, so clearly
like there were deals afoot.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah, I mean years ago, you know, Alex and I
and Jennifer of Vinie Viola looked at purchasing the Mets.
So I mean obviously we might have known each other through.
You know, I did deals at Vitamin Order from two
thousand to two thousand and seven, and I was a
Met fan, so I signed David Wright. I didn't sign
any Yankees, that was part of my deal. So Alex
and Derek Jeter were out automatically. But we always knew
(09:46):
of each other in business, and I always always impressed
Alex as a as a ball player. You know, was
very intrigued by business. I mean he was very into it.
And you know, I was friends with Kobe Bryant, who's
very interested in business, Tom Brady, who's real business and
honestly really impressed with what he's done with real estate
and what him and Walk has done with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
(10:07):
I mean, they've made him a hot brand and they've
done I mean, he's done an amazing job with the Timberwolves.
I mean I've done a much better job with Saint
John's University in Brickentino and making them a top ten
team overnight. But Alex is learning from me, I'm sure
with basketball.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Also, do you remember meeting Mike Fred You know, it's like,
obviously you guys knew of each other, and I want
to talk in a minute about the vitamin water specifically
because it was a seminal deal I think, especially in
this intersection of athletes and business. But Alex, you know,
talk to us about you know, sort of the first
time you guys really got to know each other and
(10:44):
getting in on the Mets deal, because that's another deal
that I think people will look back on as really
starting to change the landscape of who's buying teams and
how they're getting bought and sold.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Well, when I read his bio and I saw that
he was at a Saint John's alum with a two
point two great point average, I.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Said, this is my kind of guy. I'm gonna get
along with this guy.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
No, but in all seriousness, obviously his reputation speaks for
itself and it precedes him. When you meet these titans,
it could go many different ways. And literally, like Mike said,
in the first three minutes, he had me laughing my
you know what off, and it was a sincerity about it.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
I think in the first twenty five minutes ago, I.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Was, look, I don't know who you are, but whatever,
I'm in for twenty five million, And by the end
of the conversation he's like, I can go as much
as two hundred, but I don't know if I like
you that much. So anyways, it was an incredible relationship.
I learned so much. We also had the privilege to
learning from Benny Viola, who's, you know, a great friend
of both Mike and I and a great mentor to
both of us.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
You know, it's hort to find people sometimes in your
life that will be brutally honest with you. I mean,
I've said some things to him that I'm sure he
wasn't happy about, and he said some things to me
that were not happy about. But having that come from
the heart or the brain and really think about what
somebody said, I mean, you know, I'm sure Alex like me.
We get a lot of people who tell us what
(12:03):
they think we want to know versus just being brutally
honest with each other. And we have that relationship in business.
But then we also have it on our personal side,
and anytime you can laugh and think with someone, it's
a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So, Mike, you have had this incredible career, You're full
of energy, your world class manager of businesses like whatever
your next business is, we have such trust that I
would just say I'm in tell me the idea later,
where do I wire the money? My question to you
is who mentored you? Is people like Vinnie Viola others
that have you have modeled your career at or is
(12:38):
it a combination or is it from sports? Where where
did you get this desire and disability to be such
a great entrepreneur.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Alex is not just people have influenced me. I've always
been driven by me. You know, I've told everyone. I mean, Alex,
you Kate, You're one of the best players in baseball
of all time. And you might have had role models,
but at the end of the day, you would in
the you were working out, you were taking batting practice.
You know this this assumption that people can mentor you.
(13:07):
It's good. I think people can influence you, but at
the end of the day, you know, there's a great
poem Man in the glass. It's really about you looking
at yourself and saying what do I want to do?
And sometimes when I give people advice and it works,
they tend to thank me. And I said, I didn't
do any of the work. I just suggested something, and
you put the eighteen hours a day. You put in
this seven days a week. You know, my dad was
(13:28):
a waiter. He was born in France. My mom was
a seamstress. I know your upbringing, you know your dad.
You're not having a relationship you and your mom having
multiple jobs. I mean, your mom didn't teach you how
to hit a baseball, right she but she had that
work ethic and she had two or three jobs to
keep it going. I was first generation. My dad was
a waiter at the Marriott in Lexington and he works
(13:51):
six days a week, fourteen hour days. He and I
only saw him on Sunday. So he didn't teach me
as much as I watched the work work ethic to
give me this life. And you know it's something that
I want to you know, my two two great point average.
I love it. It's comical to a higher degree than
you've ever had because you're past agree. But we won't
go into that. But but what it did was at
(14:12):
the end of the day, it's it's about you know,
when you graduate, O with a four point oh or
three point h or two point zero. Once you graduate,
or even if you don't graduate, there's no textbook for
the real world. It's about grit, it's about determination, it's
about leadership, it's about hiring great people working together as
a team. And it's so important. You know, I say,
the A students work for the C students. You know,
(14:35):
I was a D student, so I don't know what
that means, but it's the only story.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But you own the company.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
But it's so important. Like what we learned at our
age is I think we're missing that with young children
right now, Like kids in their twenties are more lost
than I've ever seen before. We coddle these kids, We
tell them that this four hundred thousand dollars education is
going to get you this great job and this great opportunity.
And they get out into the real world and it's
(15:00):
like culture shop. They got the helicopter parents that oversee
their life. And Jason, I know your background, Alex said,
you know, we grew up with grit, Like we have
to teach kids grit. Adversity bills greatness, make a mistake,
you know, I say, if you're not failing, you're not
trying hard enough. And I think with this social media
world where every mistake is you know, magnified, is it
(15:21):
really magnified or is it magnified inside someone's head? Because
I love being wrong showing me a better way, and
I'm going to follow that path.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I mean, it's interesting to put that in the context
of your career too, Mike, because you know we alluded
to it earlier. You know, you've taken two huge swings
in the beverage industry, and I grew up in that
business insofar as my dad worked for Coca Cola for
a long time. I know it's been a key business
partner of yours. I watched that business and one of
(15:52):
the things that I observed from a very young age
is it is fiercely competitive. You know, not just because
you have Coke and PEPSI who are you know you
said it best, or the Red Sox and the Yankees.
Like it's just like one of the fiercest rivalries that
still exists in business. But there's also this entire other
world KDP and others who were all going after the
(16:13):
beverage business. But you look at that and you're like, no,
I think I can do something there, Like what's the
thesis there? Where you see a real opportunity to do
something meaningful in beverages.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It's funny. I had two chapters in beverages at Vitamin Water.
When we started that, I was twenty nine years old,
and I sold the company at thirty seven. Then I
vowed never to be in the beverage industry again. And
then I needed a challenge, so at forty two I
started Body Armour and I had that for ten years.
It's almost like, you know, Michael Jordan has had his
first three championships, then took two years off to play baseball,
(16:46):
found out how tough it was, and then went back again.
And the first part was that I was very naive,
you know, I thought I can get you know, Vitamin
went into McDonald's. I didn't know about Fountain Soda and
Coke Exclusive. If I would have known own what I
knew at thirty seven, at twenty eight, twenty nine, I
might have been too scared to take a chance being
(17:06):
naive and not knowing like got you there. We did
one hundred thousand our first year and I'm like, Wow.
Then we did a million, Then we did three to nine.
The last year we did seven hundred and twenty one
million before we sold to Coke.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
So zero to seven twenty one. And it was about
sharing success. Every employee was a shareholder. I was thirty
with people forty and fifty years old reporting to me,
but sharing the sharing success where you know, I didn't
have the money to pay Coca Cola or Pepsi salaries
when I signed David Wright or Shaquille O'Neill or Brian
(17:40):
Urlacker or David Ortiz. I couldn't afford the endorsement deals
that they got from other companies. So I gave them
stock options so David Ortiz could go, hey, I own
body Armor. Hey, David Wright could say I own They
couldn't say they owned gator Ade. They couldn't say they
owned Coke. So you know, fifty cent word out there
(18:00):
is that you know he had ten percent of the company.
He made four hundred million without getting my life in dangered.
I'm going to tell you that's not accurate, but I'm
not going to give you the real number.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But but he did, he did fine.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
He did great. But for him the perception that everybody
thought he made four hundred million was more valuable to
him than if he really made four hundred million. Everybody
thought he made ten million. And it was just that
I started at thirty one years old. What I think
was sports endorsement deal, equity deals, equity deals. I did
that with equity, and then you know, at Body Armor,
(18:33):
I did again, but Kobe owned ten percent, and I
took six million dollars from Kobe. So I said, hey,
I'm not going to give you equity. I'm Micropoli. If
I was playing basketball, I would pay you, but you're
gonna pay me. So Kobe came in there, and it
was equity. And when Alex and I, hey, I'm going
to throw in two hundred million for the Mets, and
you're going to throw two hundred million for the Mets,
(18:54):
you know, it's not like Alex was going to get
a ten percent discount because you know, he had seven hundred,
seven hundred more home runs a may. Actually I think
it was six something, six nineties, but that's okay.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Six But I round forward took my friend.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So that's the importance. But what you guys talked about
people in brand is like the players and the team.
You know, got to make sure there's the right chemistry,
got to make sure people are aligned. Everybody has to
be rowing in the same direction. So building teams through
great people and giving them equity. You know, I say,
(19:26):
you know, when Alex won the World Series, he was
the old only player that got the World Series ring.
The whole organization got the ring. You know, the front
office of everyone that worked there, it's the same thing.
You know, invited more water. The shipping clerk made seven
hundred thousand dollars, the receptionist made four hundred thousand, and
we had you know, two hundred people make over a million,
and two hundred people make over five hundred thousand. And
(19:48):
body armor we sold.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
For eight billion off of their equity. You're saying, off of.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Their equity, off their stockps.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So, Mike, you mentioned Kobe Bryant, and I love Kobe,
and I know how close you guys were in Vanessa,
who's an incredible woman as well. My question to you is,
if Jason and I were Kobe, take us back to
the conversation. It's very, very difficult, as you know now,
even more so than to have any athlete slash entertainer
write a check for one dollar yet along six million.
(20:30):
What was your kind of thirty second pitch to Kobe
to hook him because you are also a great salesman.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Well it was an easier hook than you think because
he contacted me. Okay, So I knew Kobe at the
end of Viten Water in two thousand and eight and
he was still trying to win championships. We did a
Kobe Bryant Lebron Vitamin Water twenty four to twenty three,
and I was always in touch with them, and he
was always intrigued Alex very similar to business. He wanted
(20:58):
to talk business, not basketball. You wanted to talk business
not baseball, which is always intriguing. And I always know
when I meet you know, somebody like you or Kobe,
when you start talking about what you want to know
versus what you know best and always love your curiosity
is second or none. And Kobe was the same thing.
And ask intelligent questions. When I say intelligent, I'm meaning Kobe,
(21:20):
not you so much. But at the end of the day,
when he tore his achilles, it was the first time
in his life he couldn't be in the gym. It
was the first time in his life he couldn't. And
Kobe was very similar to you, was a visionary. He
saw the end of his career. Who's in the back nine?
You know? In fact, with that Achilles, that could have
(21:41):
been the last hole. He just didn't know about it.
So we got start talking about business, and at the
end of the day, it wasn't even about body Armor.
It was about Kobe inc. It was about business. I
was intrigued by his curiosity and I just loved talking
to him. When I started body Armor, I start to
send samples and get his opinion on it. And then
(22:04):
we were one million minus six million dollars. We were
four million minus ten, and we were six million minus sixteen.
I went to dinner with Kobe and he asked me
a couple of times about investing, and Alex, if you
wanted to invest in we were six minus sixteen. I
would say, give me all your money. But I liked Kobe,
so it was a little different here.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Okay, So.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
When Kobe asked me to invest, I said no the
first time, and I blew him off the second time.
But he got me at Mastro's. In this one on one,
he's drinking his boker and I'm drinking my red wine
and he says I want to invest, and I'm like,
I caught it.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Beat it.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
He goes, Mike, I'm giving it to my trainer, I'm
giving it to my kids. I'm giving it to my
soccer moms. I'm giving it to my younger the younger
players on the team, giving it to everybody. My nutrition
is my chef like, you know, hey, I want to invest.
And I'm like, dude, we're losing twelve sixteen million dollars
a year. If I didn't like you, I would take
your six million dollars. I actually like you. I'm not
(23:06):
going to do it. I said, Kobe, there's a one
percent chance of this making it. And he looked at
me with this puzzled look. About one percent and one
percent and he paused, and he said, I was raised
in Italy, I played high school ball in Philadelphia. My
dad signed my contract. I was drafted at seventeen, I
got married at twenty. I won five championships MVPs one percent.
(23:30):
Those are the best odds of my life. And I
was like, wow, but Alex, that's the athlete mentality that
guys like Tom Brady, you and Kobe have the odds
of you being who you were were point zero zero one.
The odds of Kobe being who he was was point
zero one. When you tell somebody one percent, guys, that's
the easiest thing he's ever done in his life. So
(23:52):
I took six million dollars from him and Jason, I'll
be honest with you. I went back and told my
two CFOs Family Office CFO and body on our CFO,
I'm taking six million from Kobe, but if it doesn't
work I'm going to give him back six point nine
and tell them that we made fifteen percent. I took
it more from me interesting I needed that fire at
(24:13):
forty two. I couldn't lose Kobe Bryant's money. I wasn't
going to let this fail. We built a beautiful brand together,
an amazing friendship, and you know, I'm so blessed that
people like Alex has come into my life, Tom Brady
has come into my life, and Kobe has come into
my life. They're so great, and they got this these
(24:34):
minds that very few people have. They're misunderstood by their genius.
And then I come in and I get to kind
of like pick their brains as they picked my brains.
And you know, it's amazing that God has put these
three people in my life. And you know the curiosity
and how they see things is so different. The value
that Kobe added was second to none. He knew nothing
(24:57):
about beverages, you know, but it was so important.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Mike says, you like me so much.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Can I invest ten million dollars to your next start
and you give me back ten point nine?
Speaker 4 (25:06):
You know what, I'm going to give you ten point nine,
but it's gonna be worth a billion, so I'm gonna
rip you off the other way. So yes, I will
give you ten point nine. Give me the ten million.
Now I'll use it for ten percent interest, No problem.
It was, you know, it listened. It was. I always
thought God put people like Alex and Tom and Kobe
into my life for a different purpose. With Kobe, you
(25:26):
know what. On February twenty fourth was a five year
anniversary of the celebration of life. Kobe knew his stock
was worth two hundred million when he passed away, and
we were trending up. When Coke bought fifteen percent of
the company. They gave me a check at a two
billion dollar valuation for three hundred million, so to be
able to give him back twenty eight million in twenty eighteen,
(25:47):
and for him to know his stock was worth two
hundred million. Thank god I had that day and he
knew it was going in the direction. And you know what,
his great great great grandkids are always going to be
taking the total amount that he made four hundred and
forty million dollars. And you know it's a sad story. Wow,
it's but it's beautiful in a certain way.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Also, Yeah, And I don't want to lose sight of
the underlying element here, and you both alluded to it,
which is this whole notion of athletes, entertainers and others
who were involved envitamin water. Specifically, you had folks like
Alex and Kobe who who I think understood this implicitly.
(26:30):
In this value of ownership versus endorsement of either writing
a check or getting equity instead of you know, endorsement compensation.
That was a radical idea. And I know you said
you did it a little bit out of necessity, but
did you anticipate how much that would I think it's
fair to say permanently alter the way athletes, especially look
(26:51):
at their value and their ability to create even more
value by again pursuing equity rather than endorsement.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
You know, it was a combination. But I didn't just
do it for the athletes. That are. If you were
a marketing agency that we used, I gave the equity.
If you were packaging, you made my caps and my labels,
I made you an investor. Every employee, from the shipping
clerk to the receptionist to the president of the company,
I've always made as an investor. You know, I've always
(27:24):
learned as a kid. You know, success is best when shared.
Having more winners, having more people vested in the company
or the brand, or in the vision of what you're
trying to create, is so important. And you know, listen,
if I could have a ten percent employee pool and
a five percent partnership pool, most likely I'm taking it
from myself, but I've said to some entrepreneurs, which you'd
(27:45):
rather have one hundred percent of a ten million dollar
company or ten percent of a ten million dollar company?
You do the math. You know, Alex has heard to
be saying this before. Being a kid from Queen's you know,
I was always a think, big, dream, bigger person. And
when you tell me no, it means yes. You know,
and if he told me yes, it means it's easy
for me. So I want tough. You know, grit is
(28:06):
so important and that next generation needs to be taught grit. Yeah,
if I could teach that next generation something, it's grit.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I guess one of the things I've observed from where
I sit, and obviously sit in a different seat than
you guys do. What I saw post vitamin water and
in many deals since, is this idea that it actually
Because I take your point about equities for everyone, and that's.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
That's a great thing.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I think specifically for athletes, what it did was it
actually changed the perception of themselves. You know that, because
I do think that athletes for a long time are like, yeah,
I'm really good at baseball or I'm only good at basketball,
and somebody's going to pay me to like slap my
name on this. But wait a second, Now, I'm an
owner that changes a lot of their own mindst this notion.
(28:55):
We now look at athletes differently because they're owners. Is
that a fair observation, you think so, Jayson.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
Here here's the deal. There's one thing.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Not all equities created equal, and this is where it
gets tricky, right, You have to decipher, Okay, is ex
company going to pay me a million dollars or they're
going to give me five percent of the company. In
many cases, I would say nine out of ten take
the million dollars, deposit it, and call it a day.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
However, here's the caveat.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
If Micropoli calls you Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Vinnie Viola,
Mark Lorie, that equity's worth a lot more because these
guys are one of one and they do not lose.
And I haven't talked to Mike about this, but he
sold companies for billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
It's never been an easy ride.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
There's been struggles where ninety nine out of one hundred
entrepreneurs would have failed flat on their face because people
have had better idea than Mike, but they don't have
the execution, the vision, and the energy and the grid
to do it.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Mike, Yeah, I mean, Alex, that's a great answer, and
it just shows that my mentor is really working with you.
So I feel real good with it. So I'm actually
very honored right now and so appreciative watching you answer
that question so eloquently. He not only is one hundred
percent right. I can add to that where when I
started to give equity, it was two thousand and two
(30:18):
thousand and eight. This was before social media, so they
weren't using that. But that was the first step of wow,
I'm an owner. Now you add where every athlete is
a brand and every athlete has a platform, and that
took it to another level. So it's a combination of
the equity plus the platform, because I mean, there are
(30:39):
certain athletes like you know, listen, I use this guy
and I he's the one of the greatest basketball players
of all the time. But Tim Duncan didn't get the
greatest endorsement deals because he wasn't Kobe Bryant, you know.
I mean, but he's a Hall of Famer and a
top fifty player. So now with the platforms, I mean,
you see, certain athletes aren't even that talented that have
(31:00):
two million TikTok followers and one hundred, you know, fifty
million Instagram followers. They make more money being on the
bench than they do if they played. So it works
both ways. What Alex says though about do you bet
on the horse or do you bet on the jockey?
Like that's it. When I started to do body armor again.
And I used to talk to agents about players that
we were going to sign to equity deals. The funny
(31:23):
thing that they would say is, Mike, I've done twenty
equity deals in the last fifteen years and only one
has panned out, and it was vitamin Water. So he
said the other fourteen that he did didn't work out.
So I set this thing where everybody says, take equity,
you're going to make a four billion dollars, it's going
to be great, and Alex is right. It's ninety nine
out of one hundred and Alex again, great point was
(31:46):
bet the guy that's done it before. Bet the guy
that what do you call it? You know, some people
give up equity for money and they do five years
and guess what, they got nothing out of it. So
it's a right balance of what you want to do
and what you don't want to do. So it's very important.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
So walk us through a little bit the Tom Brady deal,
because you've mentioned this sort of drive of athletes, all
of whom are legendary in their sports. You know, Tom Brady,
I think has followed a template that you know, Alex
and Kobe certainly set in a lot of ways, and
I think Alex would say Magic Johnson, you know, sort
of created the original template that a lot of these
(32:36):
guys followed. Talk to us about Brady. You know, we've
sort of seen him in an entirely different light. You know,
we watched him call the Super Bowl. He has been
terrific as a businessman. Talk to us about your business
relationship with him.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
You know, it's funny. I got to know Tom through
horse racing because he's a big horse racing fan, goes
to the Kentucky Derby and a guy by the name
of Odd and Fips introduced me a while back. And
when Tom was building his TV twelve and his Brady
brand business, he ran him as two separate businesses. So
a couple of times we'd have a conversation about his businesses,
(33:12):
and in all transparency, they were struggling because Tom was
the face of the brand and the founder of the brand.
But Tom was focused on winning Super Bowls. That's all
Tom wanted to do. He didn't want business to get
in the way of winning championships. So I told Tom,
I said, what if you did more business and less football,
how many Super Bowls would you win? And it wouldn't work.
(33:35):
He thought he can be a part time entrepreneur or
do this five hours a week and just high peedable
for brands that are called Brady or TV twelve, you
can't because you're the brand and hiring someone to be
used not going to work. You know, it's not going
to be like, you know, we're going to bring Alex
in to play Tom Brady a quarterback and just put
number twelve on him and watch them, you know, throw
in three interceptions with three batters. He's not going to
(33:57):
work that way, Okay. So explaining that to Tom was
very like, Wow, I thought business was you just hire
other people and it works. Now it doesn't. So what
I did is I started to coach and mentor him
a little bit about the brands, and we built this friendship.
And then I bought this brand called No Bull and
(34:17):
it was a CrossFit brand that was kind of getting
into the sneaker category. And I love the name. I mean,
when you talk about Alex and Kobe and Tom Brady
and even Micropoli, there's a no attitude about us, get
it done. We win a championship or we lost. You know,
you're either first or your last second's the first loser,
and that's what that noble mentality was. So when I
(34:39):
bought this brand and I started being friendly with Tom,
I said, you know, noble shouldn't just be a sneaker
in a power company. You know, we should do nutrition.
Nike doesn't do nutrition. So we bought TV twelve, we
merged the Brady brand, and now we're bringing this together.
I'm fixing and flying this plane. Unlike where I started
Vita Wortar from scratch and made my mistake and grew
(35:00):
the brand. Same with body Armor. Here, I got one
hundred and eighty million dollar company that is doing it
fifty percent right, but is also bankrupt. And I'm coming
in to save this company, and I'm trying to fix
and fly this plane. And then Tom had two businesses
very similar, so we merge them together. And what I
tell Tom is last year was preseason and this is preseason.
(35:22):
Really the noble mentality making people better physically, mentally and
emotionally almost life coaches in a way, that's the goal
for twenty twenty six to twenty and thirty five just unknowable.
Speaker 6 (35:34):
Because I love this concept. What is the vision for you?
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I hear where it was and where it is today,
where is it in the next three to five years,
what would it be.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
What's a good comp and who do you exit to.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Alex I think that's a great question. I mean to me,
I want to create the Noble Wellness Company. Everybody needs
wellness nowadays. It's about not only physical wellness, but it's
that mental wellness, it's that emotional wellness. I want this
brand to be there for you nutrition wise, with Noble
you know, Electrolytes and Noble Protein. I wanted to be
(36:06):
there for podcasts like this where we can teach people,
whether they're older or younger, school age, kids, grandfar others,
about dealing with life. I think Noble you know, I
want to come out with something called Noble TV and
have you guys on that platform and have Tom and
Rick Patino on a platform about coaching and discipline and
(36:26):
about nutrition and about you know, Pete, about gratitude, about grit,
about you know, faith and friends and family and real life,
like real, authentic, genuine life. Because sometimes people think, oh
my god, that guy has it great. That woman she
is unbelievable. They don't know the adversity that she's going through.
They don't know about I mean, Alex, I know you
(36:48):
as a friend. I'm sure there's things. You have two daughters,
two great daughters. You know, you know, an amazing girlfriend
of business. You know, how many days do you not
have a problem, Chason? How many days do you have
an easy day?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
You know?
Speaker 4 (37:01):
People don't understand that, and we as influences need to
share that. You know what, I have a bad day too.
I have a problem too. I have adversity also, It's
all normal, you know, Jason. The one thing I just
want to hit upon is I did this global study.
I'll ask you and Alex, what percent of people in
this world spent a lot of money on this have
(37:23):
mental illness? Some sort of mental illness. You guys want
to take a guess.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
You guys, uh, fifty okay, Jason, I'll go higher.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I'll go sixty two.
Speaker 4 (37:34):
Okay, you guys are close. It's one hundred percent everybody
had I made it up, Alex. I know I shocked you.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
It's made up.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Okay, No, I know you're shocked. Wow. So it's one
hundred percent. Everybody has something. If we tackle this stigma
with that, everybody has something, And at the end of
the day, if we can talk about it and laugh
about it. And how do you deal with being OCD
and trusting other people and stop being a micromanager. Your
ADHD is all over the place, like we all have
(38:04):
something and noble wants to change mental illness into mental wellness.
You know, fight through this man, pick each other up
like your teammates did, and when you're in a slump.
Or I mean Tom Brady, he came into my life.
You know, at the end of his career. He was
going through a tough divorce, He had some business issues
(38:25):
and you know, like I met Tom Brady after he
won the Super Bowl with Tampa. You know, I joke
with Tom, I'm like, dude, you're hurting my reputation. You
haven't done anything really good in the last five.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Or six years.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Like like like Tom, I mean, I got I'm a winner, man,
What the hell have you won those mikes? I mean,
maybe you should say I want him. When I introduced
Tom Brady, I said, this is my friend Tom. He's
lost three Super Bowls, one hundred game. I get facts.
Chasing it, asked, I get facts. I just don't tell
me about the seven championships.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
So, but you know what great motivators, great coaches, great leaders,
but more importantly, great doers in life, no matter what
the busines. This is. Yeah, like my goal is you know, listen,
we all want to be better every day. I don't
even tell my team that they're doing good. I just
told them they sucked LUs today. You guys sucked LUs today.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Mike Bloomberg likes to tell people. He hasn't never said that.
I don't think he said this to you, Alex yet.
But if you tell him you've got an amazing new assignment,
you're doing something, he says, don't mess it up. But
spoiler alert, he doesn't say mess but you got the idea?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yes, So, Mike, obviously you have so much going on
in your life.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
You're such an inspiration.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
And I got to tell you personally, speaking for listeners
and Jason, who I have not shared this with. Anytime
I've come to a ford in the road, I usually
call you. You always take my call, no matter how
busy you are, and you always are there to give
me sound advice. But I was so inspired when we
took a great run at acquiring the METS. I thought
we really had an amazing general partnership team, and of course,
(39:50):
you're basically a queen's guy.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
Love the Mets. We love the Mets.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Next chapter, you see the Boston Celtics should be selling.
Is there an opportunity for you or a vision for
you to be a great general partner, because I think
what you can do for a franchise where you've done
your whole life, all you going to do is win
and make a franchise better. Any thoughts there?
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Yeah, I mean, first of all, I appreciate what you said, Alex.
And even though we didn't buy the Mets, you could
say it was a failed process or we lost the bid,
and we all took it very hard because we really
put our heart and soul in this for four months.
It was seven days a week. But I remember saying
to you, like, I'm so happy we lost that process
because this friendship and this relationship would have never happened
(40:33):
if we didn't have that. So sometimes even when you lose,
you wind up winning. And for me, it was like,
this relationship is very special. Only the Mets are having
this relationship. I'd rather have this relationship than the Mets.
As far as sports, I meane, you guys know that
I'm trying to win the Kentucky Derby. I won British Cups.
I'm over ten in the Derby Steaks. Yeah, I won
(40:53):
the Belmont Steaks. I wanted the Travers twice. I've won
these dream races. I actually liked. Being over ten in
the Kentucky Derby means I got there ten times by
the way, right, And it means that every time there's
a journey to get there. I don't even have to
win the Kentucky Derby, just getting there, taking my friends,
taking my family. My dad's eighty four, my mom's seventy nine.
(41:15):
They go to the races. Joy is nine years old.
She went to our first Derby when she was eleven
months old. It took me forty five years, it took
her eleven months. And it's just it's such a party.
If we win one hundred, people celebrate. If we lose
ninety nine, people celebrate. Because I pay for everything and
I'm the only miserable person sitting in the corner. So
it's great. But am I going to own a sport team? Yeah?
(41:38):
I think I want to impact people's lives, just like
I've been impacted by so many people, and impact work
is a two way street. Every time I feel like
I impact somebody, they impact me. And I know why
you asked the question about an owner. You know that
if I buy a basketball team, you'll never win a championship.
A lot of owners are afraid of that, so people
(42:00):
me to keep me out of the league, you know.
So yeah, I listen, I'd love to do it, but
there's so much time to build teams like the Noble
Team that's my sport team, the body armor team, the
Vitamin Water team. I want to build those teams. And yeah, listen,
I think in ten years. I mean, I mean, I'll
probably start as as a minority owner and work my
way up. I mean, if you want help in Minneapolis,
(42:22):
I mean, I'm giving you free advice anyway. I mean,
I mean what that I mean you want me to
pay for it, I'll do that also, but whatever. But
it's it's a dream. It's a check the box thing.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
By the way, this is the way it is when
we talk on eevery time, Like literally I'm rolling over myself. Yeah,
and look, I think it is Mike the funniest guy
in the world. Probably not, But there's a chemistry. There's
a chemistry that works, and that stuff you like to
bottle it. And he's right. We didn't went out on
the Mets, but we won on this beautiful relationship.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
You know, I think it's good for people to see
Alex and me like this because when you have real friends,
this is how you can be very open and honest
and be able to share your opinion.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
So yeah, really good.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And Alex said, I'm not the funniest person. Probably it's
only because I choose not to be clear, it's not
my focus right now. One day it will be maybe,
all right.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
So you you you so far chosen not to be
an NBA owner and not to be the funniest person.
So it's like, watch this space. I mean, you know,
we've we've got a lot to look forward to, all right.
(43:30):
So we end every episode with a quick lightning round
five questions will bounce it back and forth and I'll
kick off and then and then Alex will jump in.
All right, what's the best piece of advice you've ever
received on deal making or business?
Speaker 4 (43:43):
Close the deal?
Speaker 6 (43:44):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 4 (43:48):
God?
Speaker 5 (43:49):
What's the most nervous you've ever been?
Speaker 4 (43:52):
I'm anxious every day. I can't tell you the most nervous.
I'm driven by nervousness, only the paranoids of ud.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
What's your hype song before a big meeting or a
big negotiation?
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Eminem, what is that? Yourself? What's it? Alex?
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Come on, lose yourself, lose yourself. There you go, I'm spaghetti. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
What's your advice for someone listening who wants a career
like yours?
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. Don't
worry about the path it will find you. Just keep working,
keep grinding. I've been doing this for thirty years. Eighteen
hour days, seven days a week. Every day I wake
up broke by midnight. I'm a multi billionaire. I enjoy
two hours. I go to bed at two, wake up
at six dead broke again every single day. That's it.
(44:36):
Eighteen hour days, seven days a week. Never give up,
just keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Wo All right, well you heard it here. This is
how you become Micropolly. Mike, you are one of one.
We are so happy to have gotten you on this
show and got some time with you.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
All I ask is.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
That at some point, whether it's New York, Miami, Minneapolis,
I want to have dinner with the two of you,
because this is my favorite show to watch.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
This has been amazing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Thank you. Jason, and I got your text that you're
looking to replace Alex and I'll be available, but I
got the text. Thank you so much for sending it
for me. So yeah, Alex, sorry it didn't work out
for you again, but you know, but this is great.
Speaker 5 (45:18):
Yeah, but listen, we've created this great relationship.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
So you know, it's like you know, everybody wins.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Jason, great, met you and Alex. You said it best.
It's this is what a live FaceTime call that we're
having that we've had over the years.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Thanks now, everybody again, all appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
This episode was made by Anna Maazarakus, Stacey Wong, and
Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keene is our editor. Our theme music
is made by Blake Nples. Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier,
Ashley Honig, and Brenda Newnham. Auman is the head of
Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles.
(46:06):
Thanks so much for listening to the Deal. If you
have a minute, subscribe rate and review our show. It'll
help other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you
next week.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Deal.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm your host, Jason Kelly, back with my partner Alex Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're in Miami. I'm in New York.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Coming up later on the show, We've got Mike Ropoli.
Oh my god, this guy, the two of you, it
was it was just like a comedy show, like what
is your deal with Mike Ropoli.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You know, Big Mike's from the Big Apple and you
know he went to Saint John's. But he's got a
personality bigger than the Big Apple. I mean, he is
bigger than life. Everything he does is huge, whether it's
everything he's done in the soft drink business, in horses,
and his latest project with Saint John's has been nothing
but spectacular, while bringing in Rick Patino and really supporting
(00:53):
that program from eight to eight.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, well, sadly for him and probably good for us.
We recorded this prior to this week because he would
be in his bag, as the kids say, this week,
because Saint John's went out with a bit of a whimper.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It was.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
I was gonna say it's hard to watch. It was
hard to watch for Micropol.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I will say it was not as hard for me
to watch as a Georgetown guy, because I don't like
Saint John's at all. I mean, they have had Georgetown's
number for a long time. But you know, to your point,
he has invested, Mike has heavily into that program. It's
a real window into the business of college sports and
how much money is at stake with nil with a
(01:32):
transfer portal. They have built an incredible program and as
you say, it's just the latest thing that he's built.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I mean, what a career vitamin water.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I feel like is one of those signature deals where
equity really came to the four for the athletes and
the celebrities who were involved. I have to think that
caught your attention when when it was going down right.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and no question about it, it was a watershed moment
for all athletes and entertainers, especially when you read the
numbers of fifty cents and David Wright, and you know
Kobe's also been in other of his partnerships, and that's
when the light went up for all athletes. And then
Sanders said, wait a minute, maybe there's an opportunity to
get equity and build real wealth versus just you know,
(02:14):
collecting a check. But again, you've got to give Micropoli credit.
He's a pioneer all throughout. He jokes around him being
a c student at Saint John's, but he's truly one
of the smartest people that I've ever met. Eq Iq.
He can be a stand up comedian. As you saw,
he is psychony and then he's fearless Jason, that's the
one thing. And he has an incredible work ethic that
(02:36):
comes from his parents.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
I mean, he's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I've never seen anyone who has your number like this guy.
So I do want to mention March Madness because a
couple of things. First of all, later this week, you
and I are headed to Atlanta. We're going to do
an event with our friends at Invesco. We're going to
talk to the athletic director of Georgia Tech all about
the business of college sports, March Madness, everything that's happening there.
I get to show you around my hometown a little bit.
(02:59):
That's gonna be really fun. I've spent a lot of
time in Miami. Now you get to spend at least
a little bit of time in Atlanta. I mean, you've
been out to Truest Park and you've you know, played
the braves and stuff, but you know, like hanging out
in Atlanta with me, that's a different thing. But the
other thing I wanted to mention related to March madness.
I know you've been watching the tournament, maybe even a
little more closely this year because we've brought you into
(03:20):
the fold brackets for a cause, which is the huge
charity thing that we do here at Bloomberg. My colleague
and friend Peter Grower, our chairman emeritus, who I believe
you met for the first time just a few weeks ago.
We roped you in and I bet you're paying a
little more attention to your bracket, right there's money on
the line.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I really am, And you know, anytime this is the deal,
when money's a probably pay closer attention, you know.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
But you know, talking about Peter, who.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Was the great host with you that night, I mean,
what an incredible role model. I mean, this guy has
the passion of like a fifty year old. He is
like so full of great energy. He told this beautiful story.
Thank you so much. Jason Fort, Kelly and I to dinner.
We had an awesome time and we hope we get
invited back. But yes, I am paying close attention to
(04:06):
my brackets.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and so just for our listeners out there, So
this is something I've worked on for the past nine
or ten years here at Bloomberg.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's called Brackets for a Cause.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And we get, you know, really important influential folks like yourself.
We get David Solomon, the Sea of Goldman Sachs, John Gray,
the president of Blackstone Cliffastist, Dwight Anderson, some really well
known hedge fund managers. Joe Reese from Helena Capitol who's
worked across Wall Street, Jenny Johnson who runs Templeton, Michelle
(04:35):
Side who ran Russell Investments for a long time.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I mean, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Carolyn Tish Blodjack co Yeah, Gary Kohane of course, the
vice chairman of IBM. And what's cool is everybody pledges
twenty thousand dollars they pick a charity. We have a
record sixty one people playing this year, which means so
you as you know, you picked your men's bracket and
your women's bracket. So more than six hundred thousand dollars
is in each of those pools, and the winner gets
(05:00):
fifty percent of that money to their charity. So you're playing,
I believe for the Boys and Girls Club of Miami Dade.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So their set.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
If you can pull it off, they're set for a
big payday, Jason.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
For you, six hundred thousand is pocket change and public
for me, I mean, for us humble people from the ground.
I mean, this is real life changing money.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And what's funny is we have heard I mean, it's
not funny, it's amazing. We've heard over the years that
you know, this is money that really can change the
trajectory of an individual charity. So it's really cool. I'm super,
super excited that you're evolved. So we're watching the brackets
closely and again we're gonna be in Atlanta. We're going
(05:41):
to talk a lot about March Madais. It's been a
fun tournament so far. Although I will say one of
the interesting things, you know, talking about the deal and
the business of college basketball, there have been We're going
to talk about this with the athletic director of Georgia Tech.
There have actually been fewer upsets. There are fewer Cinderella
teams because of the trans for a portal like the
(06:01):
teams are really stacked at the highest level and so
you don't have these teams sort of coming out of nowhere.
It actually has had a profound effect on the tournament.
I think so kind of fascinating. I'm not sure people
saw that coming.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
This is such a different time now with where college
basketball is today, with the nil and players being able
to move. I mean I saw one interview from Rick
Patino that he actually said, we're not looking at one
high school player this summer, which for me was like,
I couldn't even comprehend it because we grew up Jason
(06:35):
with you go.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
After high school.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, Donald's all American.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So I think what you're seeing is these are pro
players that happen to be in college and it becomes
a lot more predictable because you bringing in kids that
are twenty one to twenty three to twenty four year olds.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
And I think that's taken.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
A little bit of the upset away from the tournament.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And you know it's happening in the men's game, it's
happening in the women's game as well. So we'll see,
you know, ultimately who comes out Sweet sixteen obviously starts
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
People are gonna be watching that very closely.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
All right, coming up, Micropoly, he is gonna have me
and Stitches making fun of you, and so people really
need to tune into that because it's the side of
you I've never seen and a guy who has been
wildly successful across all aspects of sports and business.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So that's coming up, Jason, I have to say one
thing about Micropoley. So Tom Brady had his roast on Netflix. Yeah,
I'm gonna put We're gonna position this as the a
Rod roast on Bloomberg because that's exactly.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
What it was.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Oh my god, it was unbelievable, unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
All Right, we're super, super excited to have Micropoley with us.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I have to say, like having been a part of
a little pre show, Alex, I've never quite seen your
react to another human being quite like this, and I'm
so excited to get into it. Mike, thank you so
much for joining us. We have so much to talk
to you about. But I mean, let's talk about what
I just alluded to, which is you guys know each
other really well. You you know, looked at deals together.
(08:11):
Do you remember the first time I'm just opening you up,
but do you remember the first time you met Alex
Rodrick Guz.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
We were actually introduced by a banker, JP Morgan. After
they introduced me to Alex, I stopped using them because
I didn't really I didn't like who they were referring
me to. So uh. But but we we had a
like this personality and this banter that we have, We've
had like day one, like it never stopped. You know.
(08:38):
One thing about Alex is I'm very funny, and he
tries to be funny. So it's cool to watch that.
But you know what, when he says something funny to me,
I laugh, And when I say something funny to him,
he laughs. And it's a very good personality when you
actually like getting ripped on as much as you like
ripping people. And obviously no sensitivities, no insecurities, you know,
(08:59):
a great French where you can just be yourself and
say whatever you want.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It's interesting because, you know, being introduced by a banker.
That's sort of interesting to me. Again, like when you
think about like how you normally get introduced to athletes,
It's like, oh, I was at a game and I
was with my buddy and we went into the locker
room and there's this guy. It's like there aren't many
athletes who get introduced to by a banker, so clearly
like there were deals afoot.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah, I mean years ago, you know, Alex and I
and Jennifer of Vinie Viola looked at purchasing the Mets.
So I mean obviously we might have known each other through.
You know, I did deals at Vitamin Order from two
thousand to two thousand and seven, and I was a
Met fan, so I signed David Wright. I didn't sign
any Yankees, that was part of my deal. So Alex
and Derek Jeter were out automatically. But we always knew
(09:46):
of each other in business, and I always always impressed
Alex as a as a ball player. You know, was
very intrigued by business. I mean he was very into it.
And you know, I was friends with Kobe Bryant, who's
very interested in business, Tom Brady, who's real business and
honestly really impressed with what he's done with real estate
and what him and Walk has done with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
(10:07):
I mean, they've made him a hot brand and they've
done I mean, he's done an amazing job with the Timberwolves.
I mean I've done a much better job with Saint
John's University in Brickentino and making them a top ten
team overnight. But Alex is learning from me, I'm sure
with basketball.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Also, do you remember meeting Mike Fred You know, it's like,
obviously you guys knew of each other, and I want
to talk in a minute about the vitamin water specifically
because it was a seminal deal I think, especially in
this intersection of athletes and business. But Alex, you know,
talk to us about you know, sort of the first
time you guys really got to know each other and
(10:44):
getting in on the Mets deal, because that's another deal
that I think people will look back on as really
starting to change the landscape of who's buying teams and
how they're getting bought and sold.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Well, when I read his bio and I saw that
he was at a Saint John's alum with a two
point two great point average, I.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Said, this is my kind of guy. I'm gonna get
along with this guy.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
No, but in all seriousness, obviously his reputation speaks for
itself and it precedes him. When you meet these titans,
it could go many different ways. And literally, like Mike said,
in the first three minutes, he had me laughing my
you know what off, and it was a sincerity about it.
Speaker 6 (11:20):
I think in the first twenty five minutes ago, I.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Was, look, I don't know who you are, but whatever,
I'm in for twenty five million, And by the end
of the conversation he's like, I can go as much
as two hundred, but I don't know if I like
you that much. So anyways, it was an incredible relationship.
I learned so much. We also had the privilege to
learning from Benny Viola, who's, you know, a great friend
of both Mike and I and a great mentor to
both of us.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
You know, it's hort to find people sometimes in your
life that will be brutally honest with you. I mean,
I've said some things to him that I'm sure he
wasn't happy about, and he said some things to me
that were not happy about. But having that come from
the heart or the brain and really think about what
somebody said, I mean, you know, I'm sure Alex like me.
We get a lot of people who tell us what
(12:03):
they think we want to know versus just being brutally
honest with each other. And we have that relationship in business.
But then we also have it on our personal side,
and anytime you can laugh and think with someone, it's
a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So, Mike, you have had this incredible career, You're full
of energy, your world class manager of businesses like whatever
your next business is, we have such trust that I
would just say I'm in tell me the idea later,
where do I wire the money? My question to you
is who mentored you? Is people like Vinnie Viola others
that have you have modeled your career at or is
(12:38):
it a combination or is it from sports? Where where
did you get this desire and disability to be such
a great entrepreneur.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Alex is not just people have influenced me. I've always
been driven by me. You know, I've told everyone. I mean, Alex,
you Kate, You're one of the best players in baseball
of all time. And you might have had role models,
but at the end of the day, you would in
the you were working out, you were taking batting practice.
You know this this assumption that people can mentor you.
(13:07):
It's good. I think people can influence you, but at
the end of the day, you know, there's a great
poem Man in the glass. It's really about you looking
at yourself and saying what do I want to do?
And sometimes when I give people advice and it works,
they tend to thank me. And I said, I didn't
do any of the work. I just suggested something, and
you put the eighteen hours a day. You put in
this seven days a week. You know, my dad was
(13:28):
a waiter. He was born in France. My mom was
a seamstress. I know your upbringing, you know your dad.
You're not having a relationship you and your mom having
multiple jobs. I mean, your mom didn't teach you how
to hit a baseball, right she but she had that
work ethic and she had two or three jobs to
keep it going. I was first generation. My dad was
a waiter at the Marriott in Lexington and he works
(13:51):
six days a week, fourteen hour days. He and I
only saw him on Sunday. So he didn't teach me
as much as I watched the work work ethic to
give me this life. And you know it's something that
I want to you know, my two two great point average.
I love it. It's comical to a higher degree than
you've ever had because you're past agree. But we won't
go into that. But but what it did was at
(14:12):
the end of the day, it's it's about you know,
when you graduate, O with a four point oh or
three point h or two point zero. Once you graduate,
or even if you don't graduate, there's no textbook for
the real world. It's about grit, it's about determination, it's
about leadership, it's about hiring great people working together as
a team. And it's so important. You know, I say,
the A students work for the C students. You know,
(14:35):
I was a D student, so I don't know what
that means, but it's the only story.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But you own the company.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
But it's so important. Like what we learned at our
age is I think we're missing that with young children
right now, Like kids in their twenties are more lost
than I've ever seen before. We coddle these kids, We
tell them that this four hundred thousand dollars education is
going to get you this great job and this great opportunity.
And they get out into the real world and it's
(15:00):
like culture shop. They got the helicopter parents that oversee
their life. And Jason, I know your background, Alex said,
you know, we grew up with grit, Like we have
to teach kids grit. Adversity bills greatness, make a mistake,
you know, I say, if you're not failing, you're not
trying hard enough. And I think with this social media
world where every mistake is you know, magnified, is it
(15:21):
really magnified or is it magnified inside someone's head? Because
I love being wrong showing me a better way, and
I'm going to follow that path.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I mean, it's interesting to put that in the context
of your career too, Mike, because you know we alluded
to it earlier. You know, you've taken two huge swings
in the beverage industry, and I grew up in that
business insofar as my dad worked for Coca Cola for
a long time. I know it's been a key business
partner of yours. I watched that business and one of
(15:52):
the things that I observed from a very young age
is it is fiercely competitive. You know, not just because
you have Coke and PEPSI who are you know you
said it best, or the Red Sox and the Yankees.
Like it's just like one of the fiercest rivalries that
still exists in business. But there's also this entire other
world KDP and others who were all going after the
(16:13):
beverage business. But you look at that and you're like, no,
I think I can do something there, Like what's the
thesis there? Where you see a real opportunity to do
something meaningful in beverages.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It's funny. I had two chapters in beverages at Vitamin Water.
When we started that, I was twenty nine years old,
and I sold the company at thirty seven. Then I
vowed never to be in the beverage industry again. And
then I needed a challenge, so at forty two I
started Body Armour and I had that for ten years.
It's almost like, you know, Michael Jordan has had his
first three championships, then took two years off to play baseball,
(16:46):
found out how tough it was, and then went back again.
And the first part was that I was very naive,
you know, I thought I can get you know, Vitamin
went into McDonald's. I didn't know about Fountain Soda and
Coke Exclusive. If I would have known own what I
knew at thirty seven, at twenty eight, twenty nine, I
might have been too scared to take a chance being
(17:06):
naive and not knowing like got you there. We did
one hundred thousand our first year and I'm like, Wow.
Then we did a million, Then we did three to nine.
The last year we did seven hundred and twenty one
million before we sold to Coke.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
So zero to seven twenty one. And it was about
sharing success. Every employee was a shareholder. I was thirty
with people forty and fifty years old reporting to me,
but sharing the sharing success where you know, I didn't
have the money to pay Coca Cola or Pepsi salaries
when I signed David Wright or Shaquille O'Neill or Brian
(17:40):
Urlacker or David Ortiz. I couldn't afford the endorsement deals
that they got from other companies. So I gave them
stock options so David Ortiz could go, hey, I own
body Armor. Hey, David Wright could say I own They
couldn't say they owned gator Ade. They couldn't say they
owned Coke. So you know, fifty cent word out there
(18:00):
is that you know he had ten percent of the company.
He made four hundred million without getting my life in dangered.
I'm going to tell you that's not accurate, but I'm
not going to give you the real number.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But but he did, he did fine.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
He did great. But for him the perception that everybody
thought he made four hundred million was more valuable to
him than if he really made four hundred million. Everybody
thought he made ten million. And it was just that
I started at thirty one years old. What I think
was sports endorsement deal, equity deals, equity deals. I did
that with equity, and then you know, at Body Armor,
(18:33):
I did again, but Kobe owned ten percent, and I
took six million dollars from Kobe. So I said, hey,
I'm not going to give you equity. I'm Micropoli. If
I was playing basketball, I would pay you, but you're
gonna pay me. So Kobe came in there, and it
was equity. And when Alex and I, hey, I'm going
to throw in two hundred million for the Mets, and
you're going to throw two hundred million for the Mets,
(18:54):
you know, it's not like Alex was going to get
a ten percent discount because you know, he had seven hundred,
seven hundred more home runs a may. Actually I think
it was six something, six nineties, but that's okay.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Six But I round forward took my friend.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So that's the importance. But what you guys talked about
people in brand is like the players and the team.
You know, got to make sure there's the right chemistry,
got to make sure people are aligned. Everybody has to
be rowing in the same direction. So building teams through
great people and giving them equity. You know, I say,
(19:26):
you know, when Alex won the World Series, he was
the old only player that got the World Series ring.
The whole organization got the ring. You know, the front
office of everyone that worked there, it's the same thing.
You know, invited more water. The shipping clerk made seven
hundred thousand dollars, the receptionist made four hundred thousand, and
we had you know, two hundred people make over a million,
and two hundred people make over five hundred thousand. And
(19:48):
body armor we sold.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
For eight billion off of their equity. You're saying, off of.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Their equity, off their stockps.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So, Mike, you mentioned Kobe Bryant, and I love Kobe,
and I know how close you guys were in Vanessa,
who's an incredible woman as well. My question to you is,
if Jason and I were Kobe, take us back to
the conversation. It's very, very difficult, as you know now,
even more so than to have any athlete slash entertainer
write a check for one dollar yet along six million.
(20:30):
What was your kind of thirty second pitch to Kobe
to hook him because you are also a great salesman.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Well it was an easier hook than you think because
he contacted me. Okay, So I knew Kobe at the
end of Viten Water in two thousand and eight and
he was still trying to win championships. We did a
Kobe Bryant Lebron Vitamin Water twenty four to twenty three,
and I was always in touch with them, and he
was always intrigued Alex very similar to business. He wanted
(20:58):
to talk business, not basketball. You wanted to talk business
not baseball, which is always intriguing. And I always know
when I meet you know, somebody like you or Kobe,
when you start talking about what you want to know
versus what you know best and always love your curiosity
is second or none. And Kobe was the same thing.
And ask intelligent questions. When I say intelligent, I'm meaning Kobe,
(21:20):
not you so much. But at the end of the day,
when he tore his achilles, it was the first time
in his life he couldn't be in the gym. It
was the first time in his life he couldn't. And
Kobe was very similar to you, was a visionary. He
saw the end of his career. Who's in the back nine?
You know? In fact, with that Achilles, that could have
(21:41):
been the last hole. He just didn't know about it.
So we got start talking about business, and at the
end of the day, it wasn't even about body Armor.
It was about Kobe inc. It was about business. I
was intrigued by his curiosity and I just loved talking
to him. When I started body Armor, I start to
send samples and get his opinion on it. And then
(22:04):
we were one million minus six million dollars. We were
four million minus ten, and we were six million minus sixteen.
I went to dinner with Kobe and he asked me
a couple of times about investing, and Alex, if you
wanted to invest in we were six minus sixteen. I
would say, give me all your money. But I liked Kobe,
so it was a little different here.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Okay, So.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
When Kobe asked me to invest, I said no the
first time, and I blew him off the second time.
But he got me at Mastro's. In this one on one,
he's drinking his boker and I'm drinking my red wine
and he says I want to invest, and I'm like,
I caught it.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Beat it.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
He goes, Mike, I'm giving it to my trainer, I'm
giving it to my kids. I'm giving it to my
soccer moms. I'm giving it to my younger the younger
players on the team, giving it to everybody. My nutrition
is my chef like, you know, hey, I want to invest.
And I'm like, dude, we're losing twelve sixteen million dollars
a year. If I didn't like you, I would take
your six million dollars. I actually like you. I'm not
(23:06):
going to do it. I said, Kobe, there's a one
percent chance of this making it. And he looked at
me with this puzzled look. About one percent and one
percent and he paused, and he said, I was raised
in Italy, I played high school ball in Philadelphia. My
dad signed my contract. I was drafted at seventeen, I
got married at twenty. I won five championships MVPs one percent.
(23:30):
Those are the best odds of my life. And I
was like, wow, but Alex, that's the athlete mentality that
guys like Tom Brady, you and Kobe have the odds
of you being who you were were point zero zero one.
The odds of Kobe being who he was was point
zero one. When you tell somebody one percent, guys, that's
the easiest thing he's ever done in his life. So
(23:52):
I took six million dollars from him and Jason, I'll
be honest with you. I went back and told my
two CFOs Family Office CFO and body on our CFO,
I'm taking six million from Kobe, but if it doesn't
work I'm going to give him back six point nine
and tell them that we made fifteen percent. I took
it more from me interesting I needed that fire at
(24:13):
forty two. I couldn't lose Kobe Bryant's money. I wasn't
going to let this fail. We built a beautiful brand together,
an amazing friendship, and you know, I'm so blessed that
people like Alex has come into my life, Tom Brady
has come into my life, and Kobe has come into
my life. They're so great, and they got this these
(24:34):
minds that very few people have. They're misunderstood by their genius.
And then I come in and I get to kind
of like pick their brains as they picked my brains.
And you know, it's amazing that God has put these
three people in my life. And you know the curiosity
and how they see things is so different. The value
that Kobe added was second to none. He knew nothing
(24:57):
about beverages, you know, but it was so important.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Mike says, you like me so much.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Can I invest ten million dollars to your next start
and you give me back ten point nine?
Speaker 4 (25:06):
You know what, I'm going to give you ten point nine,
but it's gonna be worth a billion, so I'm gonna
rip you off the other way. So yes, I will
give you ten point nine. Give me the ten million.
Now I'll use it for ten percent interest, No problem.
It was, you know, it listened. It was. I always
thought God put people like Alex and Tom and Kobe
into my life for a different purpose. With Kobe, you
(25:26):
know what. On February twenty fourth was a five year
anniversary of the celebration of life. Kobe knew his stock
was worth two hundred million when he passed away, and
we were trending up. When Coke bought fifteen percent of
the company. They gave me a check at a two
billion dollar valuation for three hundred million, so to be
able to give him back twenty eight million in twenty eighteen,
(25:47):
and for him to know his stock was worth two
hundred million. Thank god I had that day and he
knew it was going in the direction. And you know what,
his great great great grandkids are always going to be
taking the total amount that he made four hundred and
forty million dollars. And you know it's a sad story. Wow,
it's but it's beautiful in a certain way.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Also, Yeah, And I don't want to lose sight of
the underlying element here, and you both alluded to it,
which is this whole notion of athletes, entertainers and others
who were involved envitamin water. Specifically, you had folks like
Alex and Kobe who who I think understood this implicitly.
(26:30):
In this value of ownership versus endorsement of either writing
a check or getting equity instead of you know, endorsement compensation.
That was a radical idea. And I know you said
you did it a little bit out of necessity, but
did you anticipate how much that would I think it's
fair to say permanently alter the way athletes, especially look
(26:51):
at their value and their ability to create even more
value by again pursuing equity rather than endorsement.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
You know, it was a combination. But I didn't just
do it for the athletes. That are. If you were
a marketing agency that we used, I gave the equity.
If you were packaging, you made my caps and my labels,
I made you an investor. Every employee, from the shipping
clerk to the receptionist to the president of the company,
I've always made as an investor. You know, I've always
(27:24):
learned as a kid. You know, success is best when shared.
Having more winners, having more people vested in the company
or the brand, or in the vision of what you're
trying to create, is so important. And you know, listen,
if I could have a ten percent employee pool and
a five percent partnership pool, most likely I'm taking it
from myself, but I've said to some entrepreneurs, which you'd
(27:45):
rather have one hundred percent of a ten million dollar
company or ten percent of a ten million dollar company?
You do the math. You know, Alex has heard to
be saying this before. Being a kid from Queen's you know,
I was always a think, big, dream, bigger person. And
when you tell me no, it means yes. You know,
and if he told me yes, it means it's easy
for me. So I want tough. You know, grit is
(28:06):
so important and that next generation needs to be taught grit. Yeah,
if I could teach that next generation something, it's grit.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I guess one of the things I've observed from where
I sit, and obviously sit in a different seat than
you guys do. What I saw post vitamin water and
in many deals since, is this idea that it actually
Because I take your point about equities for everyone, and that's.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
That's a great thing.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I think specifically for athletes, what it did was it
actually changed the perception of themselves. You know that, because
I do think that athletes for a long time are like, yeah,
I'm really good at baseball or I'm only good at basketball,
and somebody's going to pay me to like slap my
name on this. But wait a second, Now, I'm an
owner that changes a lot of their own mindst this notion.
(28:55):
We now look at athletes differently because they're owners. Is
that a fair observation, you think so, Jayson.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
Here here's the deal. There's one thing.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Not all equities created equal, and this is where it
gets tricky, right, You have to decipher, Okay, is ex
company going to pay me a million dollars or they're
going to give me five percent of the company. In
many cases, I would say nine out of ten take
the million dollars, deposit it, and call it a day.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
However, here's the caveat.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
If Micropoli calls you Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Vinnie Viola,
Mark Lorie, that equity's worth a lot more because these
guys are one of one and they do not lose.
And I haven't talked to Mike about this, but he
sold companies for billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
It's never been an easy ride.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
There's been struggles where ninety nine out of one hundred
entrepreneurs would have failed flat on their face because people
have had better idea than Mike, but they don't have
the execution, the vision, and the energy and the grid
to do it.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Mike, Yeah, I mean, Alex, that's a great answer, and
it just shows that my mentor is really working with you.
So I feel real good with it. So I'm actually
very honored right now and so appreciative watching you answer
that question so eloquently. He not only is one hundred
percent right. I can add to that where when I
started to give equity, it was two thousand and two
(30:18):
thousand and eight. This was before social media, so they
weren't using that. But that was the first step of wow,
I'm an owner. Now you add where every athlete is
a brand and every athlete has a platform, and that
took it to another level. So it's a combination of
the equity plus the platform, because I mean, there are
(30:39):
certain athletes like you know, listen, I use this guy
and I he's the one of the greatest basketball players
of all the time. But Tim Duncan didn't get the
greatest endorsement deals because he wasn't Kobe Bryant, you know.
I mean, but he's a Hall of Famer and a
top fifty player. So now with the platforms, I mean,
you see, certain athletes aren't even that talented that have
(31:00):
two million TikTok followers and one hundred, you know, fifty
million Instagram followers. They make more money being on the
bench than they do if they played. So it works
both ways. What Alex says though about do you bet
on the horse or do you bet on the jockey?
Like that's it. When I started to do body armor again.
And I used to talk to agents about players that
we were going to sign to equity deals. The funny
(31:23):
thing that they would say is, Mike, I've done twenty
equity deals in the last fifteen years and only one
has panned out, and it was vitamin Water. So he
said the other fourteen that he did didn't work out.
So I set this thing where everybody says, take equity,
you're going to make a four billion dollars, it's going
to be great, and Alex is right. It's ninety nine
out of one hundred and Alex again, great point was
(31:46):
bet the guy that's done it before. Bet the guy
that what do you call it? You know, some people
give up equity for money and they do five years
and guess what, they got nothing out of it. So
it's a right balance of what you want to do
and what you don't want to do. So it's very important.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
So walk us through a little bit the Tom Brady deal,
because you've mentioned this sort of drive of athletes, all
of whom are legendary in their sports. You know, Tom Brady,
I think has followed a template that you know, Alex
and Kobe certainly set in a lot of ways, and
I think Alex would say Magic Johnson, you know, sort
of created the original template that a lot of these
(32:36):
guys followed. Talk to us about Brady. You know, we've
sort of seen him in an entirely different light. You know,
we watched him call the Super Bowl. He has been
terrific as a businessman. Talk to us about your business
relationship with him.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
You know, it's funny. I got to know Tom through
horse racing because he's a big horse racing fan, goes
to the Kentucky Derby and a guy by the name
of Odd and Fips introduced me a while back. And
when Tom was building his TV twelve and his Brady
brand business, he ran him as two separate businesses. So
a couple of times we'd have a conversation about his businesses,
(33:12):
and in all transparency, they were struggling because Tom was
the face of the brand and the founder of the brand.
But Tom was focused on winning Super Bowls. That's all
Tom wanted to do. He didn't want business to get
in the way of winning championships. So I told Tom,
I said, what if you did more business and less football,
how many Super Bowls would you win? And it wouldn't work.
(33:35):
He thought he can be a part time entrepreneur or
do this five hours a week and just high peedable
for brands that are called Brady or TV twelve, you
can't because you're the brand and hiring someone to be
used not going to work. You know, it's not going
to be like, you know, we're going to bring Alex
in to play Tom Brady a quarterback and just put
number twelve on him and watch them, you know, throw
in three interceptions with three batters. He's not going to
(33:57):
work that way, Okay. So explaining that to Tom was
very like, Wow, I thought business was you just hire
other people and it works. Now it doesn't. So what
I did is I started to coach and mentor him
a little bit about the brands, and we built this friendship.
And then I bought this brand called No Bull and
(34:17):
it was a CrossFit brand that was kind of getting
into the sneaker category. And I love the name. I mean,
when you talk about Alex and Kobe and Tom Brady
and even Micropoli, there's a no attitude about us, get
it done. We win a championship or we lost. You know,
you're either first or your last second's the first loser,
and that's what that noble mentality was. So when I
(34:39):
bought this brand and I started being friendly with Tom,
I said, you know, noble shouldn't just be a sneaker
in a power company. You know, we should do nutrition.
Nike doesn't do nutrition. So we bought TV twelve, we
merged the Brady brand, and now we're bringing this together.
I'm fixing and flying this plane. Unlike where I started
Vita Wortar from scratch and made my mistake and grew
(35:00):
the brand. Same with body Armor. Here, I got one
hundred and eighty million dollar company that is doing it
fifty percent right, but is also bankrupt. And I'm coming
in to save this company, and I'm trying to fix
and fly this plane. And then Tom had two businesses
very similar, so we merge them together. And what I
tell Tom is last year was preseason and this is preseason.
(35:22):
Really the noble mentality making people better physically, mentally and
emotionally almost life coaches in a way, that's the goal
for twenty twenty six to twenty and thirty five just unknowable.
Speaker 6 (35:34):
Because I love this concept. What is the vision for you?
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I hear where it was and where it is today,
where is it in the next three to five years,
what would it be.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
What's a good comp and who do you exit to.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Alex I think that's a great question. I mean to me,
I want to create the Noble Wellness Company. Everybody needs
wellness nowadays. It's about not only physical wellness, but it's
that mental wellness, it's that emotional wellness. I want this
brand to be there for you nutrition wise, with Noble
you know, Electrolytes and Noble Protein. I wanted to be
(36:06):
there for podcasts like this where we can teach people,
whether they're older or younger, school age, kids, grandfar others,
about dealing with life. I think Noble you know, I
want to come out with something called Noble TV and
have you guys on that platform and have Tom and
Rick Patino on a platform about coaching and discipline and
(36:26):
about nutrition and about you know, Pete, about gratitude, about grit,
about you know, faith and friends and family and real life,
like real, authentic, genuine life. Because sometimes people think, oh
my god, that guy has it great. That woman she
is unbelievable. They don't know the adversity that she's going through.
They don't know about I mean, Alex, I know you
(36:48):
as a friend. I'm sure there's things. You have two daughters,
two great daughters. You know, you know, an amazing girlfriend
of business. You know, how many days do you not
have a problem, Chason? How many days do you have
an easy day?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
You know?
Speaker 4 (37:01):
People don't understand that, and we as influences need to
share that. You know what, I have a bad day too.
I have a problem too. I have adversity also, It's
all normal, you know, Jason. The one thing I just
want to hit upon is I did this global study.
I'll ask you and Alex, what percent of people in
this world spent a lot of money on this have
(37:23):
mental illness? Some sort of mental illness. You guys want
to take a guess.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
You guys, uh, fifty okay, Jason, I'll go higher.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I'll go sixty two.
Speaker 4 (37:34):
Okay, you guys are close. It's one hundred percent everybody
had I made it up, Alex. I know I shocked you.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
It's made up.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Okay, No, I know you're shocked. Wow. So it's one
hundred percent. Everybody has something. If we tackle this stigma
with that, everybody has something, And at the end of
the day, if we can talk about it and laugh
about it. And how do you deal with being OCD
and trusting other people and stop being a micromanager. Your
ADHD is all over the place, like we all have
(38:04):
something and noble wants to change mental illness into mental wellness.
You know, fight through this man, pick each other up
like your teammates did, and when you're in a slump.
Or I mean Tom Brady, he came into my life.
You know, at the end of his career. He was
going through a tough divorce, He had some business issues
(38:25):
and you know, like I met Tom Brady after he
won the Super Bowl with Tampa. You know, I joke
with Tom, I'm like, dude, you're hurting my reputation. You
haven't done anything really good in the last five.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Or six years.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Like like like Tom, I mean, I got I'm a winner, man,
What the hell have you won those mikes? I mean,
maybe you should say I want him. When I introduced
Tom Brady, I said, this is my friend Tom. He's
lost three Super Bowls, one hundred game. I get facts.
Chasing it, asked, I get facts. I just don't tell
me about the seven championships.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
So, but you know what great motivators, great coaches, great leaders,
but more importantly, great doers in life, no matter what
the busines. This is. Yeah, like my goal is you know, listen,
we all want to be better every day. I don't
even tell my team that they're doing good. I just
told them they sucked LUs today. You guys sucked LUs today.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Mike Bloomberg likes to tell people. He hasn't never said that.
I don't think he said this to you, Alex yet.
But if you tell him you've got an amazing new assignment,
you're doing something, he says, don't mess it up. But
spoiler alert, he doesn't say mess but you got the idea?
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yes, So, Mike, obviously you have so much going on
in your life.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
You're such an inspiration.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
And I got to tell you personally, speaking for listeners
and Jason, who I have not shared this with. Anytime
I've come to a ford in the road, I usually
call you. You always take my call, no matter how
busy you are, and you always are there to give
me sound advice. But I was so inspired when we
took a great run at acquiring the METS. I thought
we really had an amazing general partnership team, and of course,
(39:50):
you're basically a queen's guy.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
Love the Mets. We love the Mets.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Next chapter, you see the Boston Celtics should be selling.
Is there an opportunity for you or a vision for
you to be a great general partner, because I think
what you can do for a franchise where you've done
your whole life, all you going to do is win
and make a franchise better. Any thoughts there?
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Yeah, I mean, first of all, I appreciate what you said, Alex.
And even though we didn't buy the Mets, you could
say it was a failed process or we lost the bid,
and we all took it very hard because we really
put our heart and soul in this for four months.
It was seven days a week. But I remember saying
to you, like, I'm so happy we lost that process
because this friendship and this relationship would have never happened
(40:33):
if we didn't have that. So sometimes even when you lose,
you wind up winning. And for me, it was like,
this relationship is very special. Only the Mets are having
this relationship. I'd rather have this relationship than the Mets.
As far as sports, I meane, you guys know that
I'm trying to win the Kentucky Derby. I won British Cups.
I'm over ten in the Derby Steaks. Yeah, I won
(40:53):
the Belmont Steaks. I wanted the Travers twice. I've won
these dream races. I actually liked. Being over ten in
the Kentucky Derby means I got there ten times by
the way, right, And it means that every time there's
a journey to get there. I don't even have to
win the Kentucky Derby, just getting there, taking my friends,
taking my family. My dad's eighty four, my mom's seventy nine.
(41:15):
They go to the races. Joy is nine years old.
She went to our first Derby when she was eleven
months old. It took me forty five years, it took
her eleven months. And it's just it's such a party.
If we win one hundred, people celebrate. If we lose
ninety nine, people celebrate. Because I pay for everything and
I'm the only miserable person sitting in the corner. So
it's great. But am I going to own a sport team? Yeah?
(41:38):
I think I want to impact people's lives, just like
I've been impacted by so many people, and impact work
is a two way street. Every time I feel like
I impact somebody, they impact me. And I know why
you asked the question about an owner. You know that
if I buy a basketball team, you'll never win a championship.
A lot of owners are afraid of that, so people
(42:00):
me to keep me out of the league, you know.
So yeah, I listen, I'd love to do it, but
there's so much time to build teams like the Noble
Team that's my sport team, the body armor team, the
Vitamin Water team. I want to build those teams. And yeah, listen,
I think in ten years. I mean, I mean, I'll
probably start as as a minority owner and work my
way up. I mean, if you want help in Minneapolis,
(42:22):
I mean, I'm giving you free advice anyway. I mean,
I mean what that I mean you want me to
pay for it, I'll do that also, but whatever. But
it's it's a dream. It's a check the box thing.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
By the way, this is the way it is when
we talk on eevery time, Like literally I'm rolling over myself. Yeah,
and look, I think it is Mike the funniest guy
in the world. Probably not, But there's a chemistry. There's
a chemistry that works, and that stuff you like to
bottle it. And he's right. We didn't went out on
the Mets, but we won on this beautiful relationship.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
You know, I think it's good for people to see
Alex and me like this because when you have real friends,
this is how you can be very open and honest
and be able to share your opinion.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
So yeah, really good.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And Alex said, I'm not the funniest person. Probably it's
only because I choose not to be clear, it's not
my focus right now. One day it will be maybe,
all right.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
So you you you so far chosen not to be
an NBA owner and not to be the funniest person.
So it's like, watch this space. I mean, you know,
we've we've got a lot to look forward to, all right.
(43:30):
So we end every episode with a quick lightning round
five questions will bounce it back and forth and I'll
kick off and then and then Alex will jump in.
All right, what's the best piece of advice you've ever
received on deal making or business?
Speaker 4 (43:43):
Close the deal?
Speaker 6 (43:44):
Who's your dream deal making partner?
Speaker 4 (43:48):
God?
Speaker 5 (43:49):
What's the most nervous you've ever been?
Speaker 4 (43:52):
I'm anxious every day. I can't tell you the most nervous.
I'm driven by nervousness, only the paranoids of ud.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
What's your hype song before a big meeting or a
big negotiation?
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Eminem, what is that? Yourself? What's it? Alex?
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Come on, lose yourself, lose yourself. There you go, I'm spaghetti. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
What's your advice for someone listening who wants a career
like yours?
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. Don't
worry about the path it will find you. Just keep working,
keep grinding. I've been doing this for thirty years. Eighteen
hour days, seven days a week. Every day I wake
up broke by midnight. I'm a multi billionaire. I enjoy
two hours. I go to bed at two, wake up
at six dead broke again every single day. That's it.
(44:36):
Eighteen hour days, seven days a week. Never give up,
just keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Wo All right, well you heard it here. This is
how you become Micropolly. Mike, you are one of one.
We are so happy to have gotten you on this
show and got some time with you.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
All I ask is.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
That at some point, whether it's New York, Miami, Minneapolis,
I want to have dinner with the two of you,
because this is my favorite show to watch.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
This has been amazing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Thank you. Jason, and I got your text that you're
looking to replace Alex and I'll be available, but I
got the text. Thank you so much for sending it
for me. So yeah, Alex, sorry it didn't work out
for you again, but you know, but this is great.
Speaker 5 (45:18):
Yeah, but listen, we've created this great relationship.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
So you know, it's like you know, everybody wins.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Jason, great, met you and Alex. You said it best.
It's this is what a live FaceTime call that we're
having that we've had over the years.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Thanks now, everybody again, all appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me Jason Kelly.
This episode was made by Anna Maazarakus, Stacey Wong, and
Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keene is our editor. Our theme music
is made by Blake Nples. Our executive producers are Kelly Laferrier,
Ashley Honig, and Brenda Newnham. Auman is the head of
Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Carnivale and Elena Los Angeles.
(46:06):
Thanks so much for listening to the Deal. If you
have a minute, subscribe rate and review our show. It'll
help other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you
next week.
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