NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News
Rapper Master P and former NBA player Baron Davis are in talks to buy shoe company Reebok for some $2.4 billion.
The pair have entered into negotiations with parent company Adidas to acquire the once-mighty shoe brand, according to Forbes.
Adidas bought Boston-based Reebok for $3.8 billion in 2005, but after struggling to turn the brand around investors repeatedly called for the company to dispose of the brand.
Master P confirmed the news to ESPN reporter Eric Woodyard, telling him: “These companies have been benefiting off us, this could be history for this company going black-owned.”
Sharing his vision for Reebok, Master P paid homage to former Philadelphia 76ers player Allen Iverson. “Crown @alleniverson and give him his righteous icon status for being probably the most elite athlete wearing Reebok,” he said. “Allen Iverson is Jordan for Reebok. Nobody never gave him the royalties or ownership as the icon for the brand.”
Master P shares vision for Reebok: “Crown @alleniverson and give him his righteous icon status for being probably the most elite athlete wearing Reebok. Allen Iverson is Jordan for Reebok. Nobody never gave him the royalties or ownership as the icon for the brand.”
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) December 29, 2020
“Imagine if Michael Jordan owned Reebok? That’s what I’m talking about making history,” Master P said, adding that he and Davis are “prepared financially” after two months of talks with Adidas.
“As we focus on turning Reebok into a lifestyle brand not just a basketball brand, our most important initiative will be to put money back into the community that built this company.”
Master P (real name Percy Miller) is the 53-year-old music mogul who founded the highly successful record label No Limit Records, which has been home to artists such as Snoop Dogg, Mystikal, Fiend, Mia X, and Master P’s brothers, C-Murder and Silkk The Shocker. He is estimated to be worth around $200 million (£148 million).
Davis, 41, played 15 seasons in the NBA for a number of different teams, including Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks. He’s currently a studio analyst for TNT’s coverage of the NBA.
The decision on whether Master P and Davis can acquire Reebok will be announced on March 10, when Adidas officially presents its new strategy.
It arrived years after Suge Knight expressed his anger at Snoop for leaving Death Row to join Master P’s No Limit label in the wake of Shakur’s murder back in September 1996. Over the resulting years, their feud saw multiple threats exchanged, with Snoop even recording a diss song, ‘Pimp Slapp’d’, which was loaded with insults towards Knight.
But their beef eventually thawed out and the pair settled their differences shortly before Knight was sent to prison following a controversial hit-and-run incident in 2015.
The post Master P and former NBA player Baron Davis are in talks to buy Reebok for $2.4 billion appeared first on NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News.
