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Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Thinks It’s ‘Too Soon’ To Sell Bieber-Backed Shots App

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 12:43 PST, Nov 29, 2014

Champion boxer, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Justin Bieber are longtime pals, but is the Shots app that they both back financially the first issue the pair could fall out over?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting Mayweather would be opposed to a sale of the selfie-centric app to Twitter, or any buyer at this moment in time.

The boxer recently made comments to that effect following last week’s revelations that the social networking giant held talks with the co-founders of Shots — brothers John and Sam Shahidi.

In a statement, Mayweather told The Times on Friday that he was unaware of the rumors and thinks it’s too early to think about selling the app to anyone.

“It’s not a good idea for them to sell right now,” the undefeated boxer explains. “Everything great comes with time. Shots is only a year old and the app keeps getting better, bigger and becoming more relevant.”

However, having made his disapproval clear, Mayweather also said the Shahidis shouldn’t feel pressured — presumably by his statements — and that they had his support no matter what is decided.

“If I’m with you, I’m with you no matter what,” Mayweather told The Times. “I support any decision they make.”

And in a further remark seen by BBC’s Newsbeat, the boxer added, “No matter what, I’ll support John, Sam and the Shots team. I believed in them when nobody else did and will always stand by their side.”

Speculation kicked off on Monday after Twitter chief financial officer, Anthony Noto, posted a public tweet that was apparently meant to be a direct message.

Noto’s tweet read, “I think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec. 15 or 16 — we will need to sell him. I have a plan.”

Although Noto quickly deleted the tweet it was caught by various reporters. The next day, CNBC confirmed Twitter is attracted to Shots’ user demographic. The selfie app has pulled in over 3 million users. Nearly two-thirds of them are women under 24, most of whom likely signed up to the service of because of Justin’s connection.

The outlet also confirmed the Shahidis have talked to Twitter.

Along with Bieber and Mayweather, other Shots investors include the venture capitalists Shervin Pishevar and Tom McInerney. Justin reportedly invested most of the app’s $1.1 million funding.

Since the app’s launch last year, John told media outlets, including The Times, that Shots differs from other social media networks because of its no-comments policy. It’s designed to prevent cyber-bullying and trolling and foster positive social media interactions.

It’s this feature of Shots that apparently appealed to Justin.

Shahidi previously told Newsbeat the app would help people avoid the “jealousy, envy and manipulation” seen on other social networks.

He went on to add, “It’s also the first social network that puts positivity over anything else by the way it’s designed.”

“The new generation needs this so it’s important that they continue to build on this. There’s too much drama on these other networks.”

Meanwhile, Mayweather isn’t the only one concerned about Twitter possibly buying Shots.

Last Wednesday, CNBC reported #DontSellShots became a trending topic on Twitter after some Beliebers freaked out about a possible Twitter acquisition of the app.

One Bieber fan account wrote, “Twitter is looking to try and buy @shots, we need to come together to stop this from happening!” along with the hashtag.

And so on.

Perhaps someone should tell Mayweather and the proportion of Beliebers protesting that a potential sale of Shots to Twitter could integrate the app to even greater social networking heights, and Bieber’s continued visible use of Shots would undoubtedly be written into any future contract.

[Images via Getty Images/Shots.]

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