Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, recently made his feelings known about the growth of pay equity in women’s sports. The latter highlighted his in-laws, Richard and Oracene, to prove his point about the importance of pay equity in women’s sports.
Ohanian, who is known as the founder of Reddit, is also one of the biggest advocates of women’s sports. Along with his business acumen, he is also known for strongly voicing his opinion in the matter of women’s sports. He is one of the biggest investors in this area, as he has majorly shown his support in soccer and track and field.
He contributed to soccer by co-founding the Angel City FC, which is a National Women’s Soccer League team, and also acquired a stake in the women’s Chelsea FC. Adding to this, he launched a women’s-only track and field event, named Athlos, in September last year. He is gearing up to execute the second iteration of the event this year.
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Amid this, he recently sat for a conversation where he opened up about the importance of pay equity in women's sports and stated Serena Williams' parents as the ideal example of how equal pay in tennis motivated them to push their daughters in the sport.
"Tennis is the one sport where you can find this pay equity. Billie was the one who really fought for pay equity that created an environment so that Richard and Oracene would want to push their daughters into tennis because there was a chance of getting paid. It takes the sport itself to take those investments. The women's soccer league had been around in America for a decade. There have been multiple attempts that had failed in the past," said Serena Williams' husband.
He further spoke about the growth of pay equity by talking about the soccer player Naomi Girma as the example.
"And so all of a sudden I show up and I'm like, 'No, I want to invest millions and millions of dollars in a team that I know it's going to be worth more later.' None of these women are looking for a handout. They all understand that the broader business needs to justify those revenues and those salaries. We just had a record breaking transfer fee. Naomi Girma. Chelsea paid $1 million for the right to sign her. So, you're starting to see the economics grow and I think ten years from now, it'll be in a very different position."
Alexis Ohanian recently shared hints at big plans for Athlos with the American long-jump athlete, Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, reacted to the former tennis player calling him the 'GOAT of investing'
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian have been dating each other since 2015, and after dating for almost two years, they got married in 2017. Ever since then, they have been a power couple, as they never shy away from supporting each other's endeavors publicly. Recently, the former tennis player lauded her husband for his investing skills, calling him the GOAT. She praised him for his notable work of investing billions of dollars in women's sports.
"My husband, Alexis Ohanian is I think the best VC investor there is. To see what he's done obviously with creating Reddit has been just remarkable. But beyond that, what he has done for women's sport, he started a whole movement of billions and billions and billions of dollars of other people starting to invest because of what he did. I get to live with the GOAT of investing for me to first hand see what it takes to be great on in that realm," said Serena Williams.
Reacting to this heartfelt tribute from Williams, Ohanian shared the video of his wife praising him on X and gushed over it, stating that he was married to the best.
"When the GOAT calls you the GOAT… S says I’m the best investor — not for seeding ro, rippling, or flock — but for helping to kick off a movement to back women’s sports – truth is, being *married* to the best teaches you a lot about what greatness actually looks like," said Ohanian.
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian have two daughters, Olympia and Adira Ohanian, who were welcomed to the family in 2017 and 2023, respectively.
