1
00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,680
Speaker 2: Well, he's a fifteen time NBA All Star, a philanthropist,

3
00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,320
Speaker 2: and now Shaquille O'Neil is stepping into the infrastructure space.

4
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,760
Speaker 2: The NBA legend is joining Jackmail Infrastructure as a founding partner.

5
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,400
Speaker 2: Earlier today, Romaine spoke with Jorge Mora, co managing partner

6
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 2: at Jackmail Partners and Shack about why this new venture

7
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:27,440
Speaker 2: is personal.

8
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,080
Speaker 3: Well, you know, there's a tremendous need in the US

9
00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:32,280
Speaker 3: for better infrastructure.

10
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:33,800
Speaker 4: You know, you see it in your roads.

11
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,319
Speaker 3: You're seeing your airports, your train stations, and I want

12
00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,400
Speaker 3: to help make that change, and you know, Jack mel

13
00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 3: is the partner that can help me do that. You know,

14
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,640
Speaker 3: when I'm at Jorge and Nick, you know they approached me,

15
00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,040
Speaker 3: and you know we kind of have the same values.

16
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,600
Speaker 3: I like to invest my time and money where it

17
00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,199
Speaker 3: can make a difference in people's lives and have a positive,

18
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,600
Speaker 3: positive impact on the community. So I thought it was

19
00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,040
Speaker 3: the right thing to do because I live in a

20
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,320
Speaker 3: town where we need, definitely need better infrastructure. So I could,

21
00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,160
Speaker 3: you know, partner with a company like Jack Mail. I'll

22
00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:07,040
Speaker 3: do it every time.

23
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,920
Speaker 1: And a lot of cities of course across the US.

24
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,680
Speaker 1: Shaquille are in that same position. I mean, one of

25
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,000
Speaker 1: the deals that the infrastructure project had been involved in was,

26
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,880
Speaker 1: of course, the redesign and redevelopment, if you will, of

27
00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,200
Speaker 1: LaGuardia Airport in New York and check. I mean, as

28
00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,039
Speaker 1: somebody who spent you know, nineteen twenty years in the NBA,

29
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:27,400
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've been to pretty much every airport in

30
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,800
Speaker 1: the United States and beyond. When you look at the

31
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,400
Speaker 1: infrastructure in the transportation space, what does it say to you?

32
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,360
Speaker 3: But it says that, you know, whoever has the contract

33
00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:39,000
Speaker 3: is doing a great job. And I know the work

34
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,280
Speaker 3: that Jack Mail doesn't. My hometown is nort and part

35
00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 3: of the airport has already been redone. You know, I

36
00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,120
Speaker 3: would definitely love to be involved in, you know, the

37
00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,280
Speaker 3: expansion of that one. But you know, as long as

38
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,680
Speaker 3: we have companies like Jack Mail doing that thing and

39
00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,639
Speaker 3: you know, bring in bringing what they bring to the table,

40
00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,960
Speaker 3: it's beautiful. So what they did with with with thought,

41
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 3: you know, LaGuardia is definitely why I wanted to be

42
00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,480
Speaker 3: their teammates. You know, every time I win a championship

43
00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,840
Speaker 3: is because I have great teammates, you know, going with Kobe.

44
00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 3: I'm winning in a broadcast with your best friend Charles Barkley,

45
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:15,799
Speaker 3: So I want to also win a championship in the

46
00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:16,799
Speaker 3: infrastructure space.

47
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,720
Speaker 1: So Ari, I am curious that with regards to the

48
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:24,120
Speaker 1: projects going on through the Investment Infrastructure Fund I mentioned,

49
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,400
Speaker 1: of course, so what went on in LaGuardia also a

50
00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 1: big project at JFK Heartsfield down in Atlanta. Is your

51
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,960
Speaker 1: focus going to primarily be in I guess the aviation

52
00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,160
Speaker 1: space or are you looking to do something more broadly?

53
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:38,680
Speaker 5: We're gonna be looking at other spaces.

54
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:43,079
Speaker 6: I mean the transportation space in particular is one of

55
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,280
Speaker 6: our core focuses. And we also recently did an investment

56
00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,920
Speaker 6: into the energy space. Unfortunately we can't disclose it, but

57
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,080
Speaker 6: it was a large, almost one hundred million dollar investment.

58
00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:56,600
Speaker 5: And then we're also going to look at digital.

59
00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:58,280
Speaker 6: What we try to do is we try to pair

60
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,520
Speaker 6: the competency that we have in house with the different

61
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,720
Speaker 6: sectors we're investing in.

62
00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:05,600
Speaker 5: In the digital space.

63
00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,600
Speaker 6: We happen to have a senior advisor who has done

64
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,320
Speaker 6: an enormous amount of investing in digital for the last

65
00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,720
Speaker 6: twenty five years. In transportation We happen to own a

66
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,960
Speaker 6: design engineering firm that has worked in close to one

67
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,799
Speaker 6: hundred airports in the US, and so we're trying to

68
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,400
Speaker 6: stick to what we know what we can bring some

69
00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 6: added value, and then by having Shaquille as one of

70
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,760
Speaker 6: our founding partners, we can really focus on the community

71
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,120
Speaker 6: engagement into those big projects.

72
00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,440
Speaker 5: We mentioned a couple of times. If you've flown in.

73
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:38,839
Speaker 6: Or at a LaGuardia, you can see that there's all

74
00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 6: these local businesses that are in the terminal, restaurants, et cetera.

75
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:46,600
Speaker 6: And it also has the impact on the employment in

76
00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 6: the community. So our value add is that we're going

77
00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,560
Speaker 6: to try to bring that organic and more natural connectivity

78
00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 6: that a group like Chuck Malcolm bring to a project

79
00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 6: like that when partnering with large infrastructure investors is either

80
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,160
Speaker 6: strategic or financial.

81
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,600
Speaker 1: Well, we'll expand on that a little bit because I mean,

82
00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,440
Speaker 1: as someone who goes through LaGuardia almost every other week,

83
00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,840
Speaker 1: it's very obvious that there is an intent with that

84
00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,800
Speaker 1: redesign to highlight local businesses and I am curious as

85
00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,280
Speaker 1: to what that conversation looks like. Orgey, are you you're

86
00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: talking with the airport authority or are you talking with

87
00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,359
Speaker 1: just the local government leaders. What is that conversation.

88
00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,680
Speaker 6: It's a combination of all of that, right, It's understanding

89
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,359
Speaker 6: which businesses in the local community.

90
00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,040
Speaker 5: We will on bring in. What also, what investors.

91
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,920
Speaker 6: From the local community we would like to group into

92
00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:40,920
Speaker 6: our investment group to just tie to the community, to

93
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,480
Speaker 6: make sure that their needs are being listened to. So

94
00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,040
Speaker 6: in any new project, for example, Newark has been talked about,

95
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,120
Speaker 6: it hasn't been announced yet, hopefully it will be in

96
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,440
Speaker 6: the next few months or year when that happens. Having

97
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,360
Speaker 6: Shaquille as our partner, having the fact that he grew

98
00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:01,479
Speaker 6: up there, I think we'll give an edge to any

99
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 6: group that we work with in UH in delivering that

100
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,440
Speaker 6: community and engaging with him properly.

101
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,159
Speaker 1: Maybe Schulle, you can talk just a little bit about

102
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,720
Speaker 1: Newark and your connections there. Obviously you were raised there

103
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,360
Speaker 1: and you've been a big investor there a long prior

104
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,640
Speaker 1: to this deal with Jack mol Yeah.

105
00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:20,720
Speaker 3: When I met with Jorge, I think I told him

106
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 3: I wanted the business that's going to have positive impact

107
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 3: on local community. Born and raised in the North through

108
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,760
Speaker 3: in and out of the Nork Airport UH many times,

109
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:32,919
Speaker 3: and you know would love to be a part of

110
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,680
Speaker 3: you know project, you know that just you know those

111
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:37,599
Speaker 3: with the legacy. You have a kid who was a

112
00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 3: meeting with juvenile delinquent. Now he's partnering with the company

113
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,560
Speaker 3: like Jack mel and we're redoing the airport. You know,

114
00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,720
Speaker 3: we're making the airport better. So you know, this would

115
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,039
Speaker 3: be big if we could out land that deal. But again,

116
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,679
Speaker 3: when when I met with nickod Hore, I told him myself,

117
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,240
Speaker 3: I want to positive impact on local community.

118
00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 4: That's all we want to do.

119
00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,120
Speaker 3: We want to you know, help create jobs, you know,

120
00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,040
Speaker 3: just with whatever it does make the community better.

121
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,159
Speaker 4: That's definitely that I want to be a part of.

122
00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,520
Speaker 1: Do you have any ambitions for having more deeper ownership

123
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,160
Speaker 1: in the sports world in terms of sports franchises?

124
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,920
Speaker 3: Actually no, I've always been the I can remember when

125
00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 3: I was taking my business marketing class, professor gave me

126
00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 3: a book on the side. He said it was the

127
00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,920
Speaker 3: Dummiest Guy of Starting your Own Business, And.

128
00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,920
Speaker 4: My favorite chapter was joint Ventureship.

129
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,880
Speaker 3: Because I realized that in order to be a great leader,

130
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:32,839
Speaker 3: you have to have people that are smarter than you

131
00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,960
Speaker 3: as teammates. So I applied basketball to business and I

132
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,920
Speaker 3: was like, you know what, I need to get guys

133
00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,599
Speaker 3: that are better in whatever space I'm trying to invest

134
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 3: in than I am. Imagine me trying to run a

135
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,200
Speaker 3: five guys by myself. Imagine me, you know, trying to

136
00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,920
Speaker 3: run Rebunk by myself. Imagine me trying to do this

137
00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,640
Speaker 3: infrastructure by myself. So you have to get great teammates.

138
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,520
Speaker 3: I mentioned this earlier. I won championships with Kobe, Bryant

139
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,400
Speaker 3: d Wade. I'm winning with Ernie, Kenny and Chuck, So

140
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,359
Speaker 3: you know, when it comes to, you know, finding great partners,

141
00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,839
Speaker 3: Jorge and Nick are the best in this business and

142
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:06,840
Speaker 3: we will definitely win