Kevin Durant Will Get An Extra Payday Thanks To A $1 Million Investment In Postmates, Which Was Just Acquired By Uber For $2.6 Billion

Forbes – While he won’t be on the court, [Kevin] Durant’s business empire continues to gain momentum.

The New York Times NYT reported Monday night that Uber Technologies was in talks to buy food-delivery business Postmates for roughly $2.6 billion, after earlier reports Monday that the company was reviving IPO plans. It would be a huge win for Durant, who invested roughly $1 million in the startup in 2016 at a discounted entry price. The current value of his stake is up an estimated 15-fold, based on the Uber valuation, to $15 million.

Durant’s company, Thirty Five Ventures, cofounded with his business manager Rich Kleiman, has 15 full-time employees focused on Durant’s endorsements, startup investments, foundation and media properties. He’s invested more than $15 million into 40-plus startups. “I want to use the checks I get from companies to create true generational wealth,” Durant said for a Forbes cover story six months ago. Durant said his gains on paper had topped 400% as of late 2019.

Kevin Durant has made headlines in the past for his investments, including this one with Postmates. And while he’s been tough to get a read on off the court, you can hear some of his enthusiasm for the businesses they work with in places like his podcast interviews with Bill Simmons. He’s clearly a guy who gets the need to make the most of his finances from his playing days and investing in the food delivery business back in 2016 was about as savvy as it gets. Quarantine times have ratcheted up Postmates’ growth but odds are this one would have paid off big time for Durant even if Uber didn’t swoop in with a Godfather offer.

The 400% gains in Durant’s investment portfolio are on a whole other level, though. If he continues on this Warren Buffett-esque heater, it’s hard to not rethink everything we know about Kevin Durant. Right now, this Brooklyn Nets situation seems pretty dire with Kyrie Irving’s mercurialness and half the team opting out of the Orlando restart despite a near-certain playoff spot. But with the kind of foresight Kevin Durant has shown with investments, maybe he knew that would happen. Maybe this is like him buying into a devalued asset and waiting for it to turn into a rocket ship in its Series B round. Kevin Durant may be playing that much-ballyhooed four-dimensional chess by letting Kyrie tear the Nets down like the nWo invading WCW.

And remember Kevin Durant’s Twitter burner accounts? What if that was some next-level commentary on the toxicity of social media? Or just a way to ratchet up his engagement for an influencer brand deal rather than just a vanity defense? It may have seemed like the actions of a thin-skinned, spoiled athlete. But through the lens of Kevin Durant: Superinvestor? Everything is a long play or a short play and the Durant house will win at the end.

All I know is I’ll never question Kevin Durant again. And if it turns out that he’s got a 10% stake in Zoom or something, both I and KevinDurantFan4Life on Twitter won’t be shocked.

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