ESPN cancels ‘The Boardroom’ ... but Kevin Durant hits it big on Postmates stock

There was a lot of news about how ESPN had canceled Kevin Durant’s “The Boardroom,” his and Rich Kleiman’s behind-the-scenes look at pro athletes’ business sense. It featured KD, Kleiman and Jay Williams and was shown on ESPN+, the $4.99-a-month pay service of the network.

Both ESPN and Thirty Five Ventures, Durant’s investment vehicle, issued statements praising the effort despite the cancellation.

“Thirty Five Ventures are great partners and we are actively working on creative ways to continue bringing The Boardroom to sports fans across our platforms in the year ahead,” said ESPN.

“The Boardroom is bigger and better then ever,” Kleinman tweeted. “We built something to highlight the incredible stories of young Entrepreneur’s that come from nothing. We tell feel good success stories for young people to relate to and be inspired by. And we want it to be for FREE..Theboardroom.tv”

But there’s been little reporting on the other investment news related to Durant, the killing he made in the stock of Postmates which is being purchased by Uber in a $2.6 billion deal. As it turns out, KD has a piece of the delivery service.

As Forbes reported, Durant invested roughly $1 million in Postmates in 2016 at a discounted entry price. In other words, Postmates wanted KD’s celebrity draw so bad they gave him a break on the stock price. Now, writes Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes, “the current value of his stake is up an estimated 15-fold, based on the Uber valuation, to $15 million.”

Bottom line is that the loss of the ESPN contract is small potatoes. As Badenhausen noted of Durant...

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.

And yes, it was Postmates that Richaun Holmes called to deliver food inside the “bubble,“ earning him 10 days more in quarantine.

Meanwhile, Beyond Meat, the vegan burger company that Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan invested in, hit an all-time high on news that it’s entered the Brazilian market.

• ESPN cancels its Kevin Durant experiment - Andrew Marchand - New York Post