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Damon “Dame” Dash was the special guest on this past Monday’s airing of the Revolt Media podcast, Assets Over Liabilities. The Harlem-bred entrepreneur shared a few nuggets of wisdom with hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings. But Dash also spoke on some of his missed opportunities, and a particular time he lost out big involved Rocawear.
According to Dash, the clothing label he co-founded with former friend Jay-Z once had a very interested suitor who was already a big deal in the fashion world. That particular individual met up with Dash at a Paris Fashion Week years ago, and was ready to drop some serious coin to acquire Rocawear, too. “We were about to sell to Tommy Hilfiger for like $450 million,” Dame told Millings and Bilal. But there was one problem — only a few moments earlier, Dame got jumped and was not in the right headspace for that conversation.
“I got the film I can show it to you,” the 51-year-old businessman continued. “Tommy’s in my ear like, ‘Yo, I wanna buy the company,’ I’m like, ‘Yo I got a concussion man it’s loud. Let’s talk later.’ But they did make the offer.”
Dash said he was ready to make the deal as well, so he did his part to ensure the financials made sense. “I would have walked away with like $40 million, and when you put a company to get bought, there’s due diligence that comes with it,” he explained. “So due diligence is lawyers that just cost like a million dollars just to look through everything… We go through all of that. sh-t.”
Yet there was a final unexpected snag that reportedly killed the Tommy Hilfiger deal: Dash’s frenemy, Jay-Z “Right before we close, your man S dot Carter [Jay-Z] makes an announcement that he’s launching another brand… So it devalued the brand, and they left because they were like, ‘If Jay’s not a part of it, we don’t want it,’” he revealed.
In his 70-minute interview, Dash also covered a variety of other topics. He discussed his own personal reasons for leaving Rocawear, his need to follow his own dreams on his terms (“I do it my way or no way.”), and possibly creating his own football team. Check the video below for Dame Dash’s full interview on the latest episode of Assets Over Liabilities.
