Barbara Corcoran sold her real estate firm, The Corcoran Group, in 2001, but said in a recent interview that she still hasn’t spent most of the $66 million she got in the deal.
In an episode of the Earn Your Leisure podcast released on Wednesday, the millionaire investor and star of ABC’s Shark Tank said that, at first, it was fear that kept her from spending the money.
“I was scared. I figured ‘I don’t have my golden goose laying any eggs anymore.’ All of my staff was gone and I had no way to produce money. I thought to myself ‘Heck, I better hold on to this money,” she said.
Corcoran also shared in the interview that after NRT, now known as Anywhere Advisors, paid her the $66 million, she kept the money in her checking account for four years instead of investing it, something she admitted to the hosts was irresponsible.
The 75-year-old told podcast hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings that when she did feel comfortable spending the money, some of the first things she bought include a beach house, a Porsche, and homes for several of her siblings. “I did all of the kind of crazy things that people did who never had a pot to pee in. I was able to be fancy for a minute,” Corcoran said.
“I made everybody happy with the money, and I still had tons of money left over. It was great.”
Corcoran claims she always knew she would sell her brokerage for $66 million because it was her “lucky number.” In a 2023 TikTok video, Corcoran said the buyer initially offered her $22 million, but she had already decided $66 million was the only number she would accept.
“I figured my business had to be worth something,” Corcoran said. “After all, we were making money. But what it was worth, or how the heck to figure it out, I had no idea.”
Corcoran rejected the $22 million offer as a negotiation tactic, and they agreed to the amount she wanted the very next day. “$66 million dollars, and not a penny less,” she said.
“I was acting like the big deal I knew I wasn’t, and I hung up.”
The sale was a huge moment for her and taught her a lesson in negotiating that she still carries on today: “Negotiation has more to do with good timing than money.”
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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