A-Rod swings for the fences in building a business empire
Former Major League Baseball MVP Alex Rodriguez discusses his early investments and Derek Jeter’s decision to buy a stake in the Miami Marlins.
Alex Rodriguez is taking the lessons learned from his 22-year career as one of the greatest Major League Baseball players of all-time to the field of business.
The founder and CEO of the investment firm A-Rod Corp told FOX Business he started building his business empire at a young age because he wanted to get a lead on life after baseball.
“I started with real estate, and I started truly out of fear,” Rodriguez said during an interview with Charlie Gasparino. “I kept looking at the numbers, and the career average is about five and a half years and you see where most athletes make 80% or 90% of their money between age 20 and 30.”
A-Rod Corp identifies and manages investments across multilevel industries, including entertainment, media, sports, wellness and real estate with 13,000 units across ten states.
“I started with a duplex back almost 17, 18 years ago and down in Miami and we grew that to over 10,000 apartment units in the southeastern part of the United States,” Rodriguez said in the interview, which aired on "Countdown to the Closing Bell."
Rodriguez also founded a real-estate development firm, Newport Property Construction, in 2008. Newport has managed the renovation and development of more than $1.5 billion of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties, according to A-Rod Corp’s website.
The 14-time MLB All-Star and 2009 World Series champion with the New York Yankees uses his batter’s eye to identify brands that are a good fit with his company. In 2017, Rodriguez partnered with TruFusion, a new concept in fitness that merges group fitness with yoga.
“We’ve now expanded to doing some consumer investing and partnering up with founders that their brands align with ours,” he said.
Rodriguez is diversifying his post-baseball career portfolio by becoming a breakout star as a baseball analyst for FOX Sports and ESPN.
“I never thought I’d be in your business, Charlie, in the media. But I love baseball. Baseball is in such an amazing place. I am so fortunate to work in FOX with the Murdoch family and obviously the Disney family with ESPN,” he said.
Rodriguez is participating in a panel at the 21st annual Milken Institute Global Conference addressing the role of men and their support of women in business.
“I had two dreams when I was a young lad. Ten years old, I thought about being a Major League Baseball player and I wanted to be a CEO, go to graduate school and go into business, and I was fortunate enough to start investing at my early 20s,” he said.