Turning Down $4 Billion | Rabbi Yehuda Zev Klein

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

[Music] [Applause] In 1985, a new company called EA Sports approached the famous broadcaster and legendary NFL coach John Madden with an exciting offer. We want you to be the face and the voice of our new NFL video game, and we will pay you $100,000 for the rights to use your name. But then the company sweetened the deal even then the company sweetened the deal even more. They told him, "You can have as much shares as you want in the company, unlimited stock options." And Madden was intrigued. He asked them, "What do you mean I can have as many shares as I want? Do I get them for free?" And they tell him, "No, Mr. Madden. You can buy them at the current market value," which was about 50 cents a share at that time. Madden thought about it for a moment and then he said, "I gave you my time. I'm not going to give you my money. Just pay

Jump to a moment

1. 0:00[Music] [Applause] In 1985, a new company called EA Sports approached the famous broadcaster and legendary…
2. 0:31then the company sweetened the deal even more. They told him, "You can have as much…
3. 1:01not going to give you my money. Just pay me the $100,000 and forget about the…
4. 1:32institution. Had Madden taken the stock deal instead of the money, he could have owned about…
5. 2:05away from instant gratification. But the writes something so powerful. If you place all your all…
6. 2:36those deeds done without hardship. In the eyes of Hashem, that one act of Mser nephesh…

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