Serena Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian drops affirmative 3-word response to claim that men's and women's sports can thrive together

Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams's husband, has again emphasized the viability of women's sports as big business. Reddit founder Ohanian is a serial entrepreneur with several business interests in tech, social media, and IT. Still, the sector that seems closest to his heart is sports, specifically women's sports.

That's not entirely surprising given his marriage to 23-time Major-winning Serena, and the two daughters they share, Olympia, 7, and Adira, 1. Ohanian, once touted by Forbes as "The Mayor of the Internet", often cites his daughters as the inspiration behind his investments in female sports.

Ohanian was responding on X (formerly Twitter) to a post by Caroline Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the founder and CEO of GOALS, an organization that seeks to empower women through sport. Fitzgerald posted:

"I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but men's sports can be big business AND women's sports can be big business - at the same time! It's not a zero-sum game."

Ohanian quickly responded with a message of encouragement:

"Let them know"

Alexis Ohanian X (https://x.com/alexisohanian/status/1904349621763108888)

Ohanian and Williams invest in men's sports too. Williams has a stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and the couple are part owners of the LAGC (Los Angeles Golf Club), one of the six teams in Tiger Woods's groundbreaking TGL golf venture. Daughter Olympia is also one of the investors, making her the youngest sports team owner ever.

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Ohanian has acknowledged the difficulties of investing in women's sports and has overcome them

The Women's Sports Foundation's 2022 Annual Salute To Women In Sports Gala - Source: Getty

Ohanian has recognized that his initial efforts to invest in female sports were difficult, comparing them to his early days trying to gain traction at Reddit. Since those early days, he has committed more than $100 million in investment and insists that despite negative predictions from colleagues and friends, he's generated a significant return on his money.

He donated an undisclosed sum to the University of Virginia women's basketball team, believed to be the largest sum donated in the program's history. Also, Ohanian and Williams have a major stake in Angel City FC, the women's soccer team. In 2024, Ohanian's venture capital firm Seven Seven Six began a 776 Invitational event, offering record-breaking purses to female track stars.

At the Forbes 30/50 Summit at the beginning of March in Abu Dhabi, Ohanian was dismissive of the notion that women's sport was uninvestable, as reported by msn.com:

"I think a lot of well-intentioned people were investing in things like women's sports as charity, because they had daughters, or granddaughters, and as soon as you compartmentalize anything that way, you're setting a bar on the success. You're setting a restriction on yourself."

Ohanian also discussed how he ignored the naysayers who insisted that investing in women's sports was a sure way to lose money. He takes a different view:

"Everyone, from random people on the internet, to other investors, who I respected, they all told me I was going to lose all my money, and it would never work. I'm very happy to prove them wrong. Angel City is now the most valuable team in the world at $300m."

Ohanian and Williams's daughter Olympia is showing promise as an athlete and as a golfer. She was gifted a set of clubs by Tiger Woods, and Ohanian has been pictured caddying for her. The couple has a personal as well as professional incentive to back female sports, and no doubt will continue to do so.