The Business of Summer: Shaq Settles, Lakers Flip & Joey’s Redemption Trip

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Allow me to be among the first to welcome you to the official start of Summer and to ask that you turn up your air conditioning. Like clockwork, the temperatures outside are running up toward the triple digits for much of the country as fast as the sweat is dripping down. The infernal weather is a nice complement to the unrelenting feeling about the world going to H-E-double hockey sticks in a handbasket. Yes (with apologies to Gershwin), it’s summertime and the livin’ is most certainly not easy. But that’s no matter here at the Spotlight, where the tears of a clown flow free, and we make (with apologies to lemons) lemonade.

• One year removed from having been removed from eligibility for the annual Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Competition at Coney Island for having endorsed plant-based hot dogs, Joey Chestnut is now slated to compete at this year’s competition. See folks?! Maybe the world is healing itself after all…
• Founder and CEO of TWG Global and Guggenheim Capital and owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mark Walter skipped shopping at Rodeo Drive and decided to buy majority ownership in the Los Angeles Lakers, placing the NBA franchise’s valuation at $10 billion. To recap: Founder, Owner. Dodger. Walter. Laker. Spender.
• Speaking of the LA Lakers, Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal settled a lawsuit related to his endorsement of the FTX crypto platform for $1.8 million. One big check from one big man.