The Real Reason Mark Cuban Is Exiting Shark Tank–And Maybe The Mavericks (2024)

One of America’s most famous entrepreneurs, billionaire Mark Cuban is best known for a couple of things.

The first is his 12 year run as a blunt yet benevolent star on Shark Tank, the hit business show that’s led him to pour nearly $30 million into hundreds of startups. Then there’s his role as an NBA owner – the loud-mouthed Cuban has become a courtside staple since buying the vast majority of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000.

In recent days, however, the 65-year-old investor – who is worth an estimated $6.2 billion, according to Forbes – has made a splash with the sudden revelations of his plans to step away from both. Cuban announced on a podcast last week that he will leave Shark Tank after the ABC show’s 16th season wraps up next year, confirming plans he first indicated to Forbes last year. Meanwhile, multiple reports published on Tuesday said Cuban is working on a deal to sell a majority stake in the Mavericks to fellow billionaire Miriam Adelson and the Adelson Family. The sports team, which Cuban bought 85% of for $280 million in 2000, will reportedly be valued in the range of $3.5 billion. Cuban plans to sell most of his stake, but will hold onto some and will retain full control over basketball operations, according to multiple reports. (Cuban did not respond to requests for comment for this article.)

The dual announcements seemed to take many by surprise (“It Looks Like Mark Cuban Doesn’t Want To be Mark Cuban Anymore,” Business Insider titled a Wednesday article about the shakeup), and had some wondering if he was gearing up for a presidential run. After all, he seriously considered a run in 2020 but decided against it after attracting less than 25% of the vote in a national poll he commissioned. “It’s out of the question,” he told Forbes last year about running for president or any office, adding that “I’m not going to run because of my family.” He said the same thing to NBC News on Wednesday, reiterating again that he is not planning to run for president in 2024.

So what will he do? Cuban previously offered some insight to Forbes about the reasons why he was considering some drastic changes in his professional life. Speaking for a September 2022 magazine cover story, the billionaire revealed that he was considering leaving “Shark Tank” because his busy schedule was no longer matching up with that of his three teenage children, with whom he was trying to spend more time.

After his eldest daughter, Alexis Cuban, started at Vanderbilt University in September 2022, the billionaire said that his other children – Jake and Alyssa, were 13 and 16 years old, respectively, Cuban said at the time of the interview – were on different schedules for their school breaks, making it difficult to balance filming for Shark Tank and attending Mavericks games. “You know, when they [my kids] move around, plus basketball season too, I can’t take two weeks off and it turns out to be playoffs,” Cuban told Forbes in previously unpublished comments. “So I’m trying to figure out that balance, that’s what it comes down to.”

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Cuban told Forbes last year that he had been trying to prioritize his family more. “I haven’t always done a great job of it,” he said. “But I mean, it’s hard. It’s hard. Even if you’re not doing a billion things, it’s difficult.”

That’s not to say that this is the only reason Cuban may be selling the team. There’s a financial incentive, too. As Forbes’ reporting has shown, the value of NBA teams has ballooned in recent years. An October 2023 Forbes analysis showed that the average NBA team was worth $3.85 billion, an increase of 35% from a year prior and 75% higher than in 2019. While valuations are heading skyward with no indication that they will stop, it’s unclear how long the run will last. Cuban, famously, has a history of predicting bubbles. He made his fortune selling Broadcast.com, an internet sports radio outfit, to Yahoo for $5.7 billion at the peak of the dot-com bubble in 1999. A few years later, Yahoo shuttered the service. Furthermore, the cash from selling a big chunk of the Mavericks could free up Cuban for other big investments.

The billionaire does not appear to have made any public comments about his motivations for selling the team. Cuban did not reply to a request for comment from Forbes about why he is selling now.

To be sure, even without Shark Tank and majority ownership of The Dallas Mavericks, Cuban seems set to stay busy. NBA reporter Marc Stein and The Associated Press both reported that the deal to sell the Mavericks, which is currently being vetted at the league level, would leave Cuban with some ownership stake and would enable him to retain operational control of the team’s basketball dealings.

Outside of the Mavericks, Cuban has been focusing on Cost Plus Drugs, the public benefit corporation he started in January 2022 with Dr. Alex Oshmyansky which aims to lower prescription drug prices. Forbes estimated last year that Cost Plus, which sells generic drugs with a flat 15% markup (plus $8 for shipping and fees), had booked at least $25 million in sales from its more than 1 million customers during the first nine months of the year. The company has since doubled its customer base to over 2 million and forged new partnerships–including pharmacies at major grocery store chains like Kroger, FredMeyer and King Soopers, which all accept prescription benefits cards from Cost Plus Drugs, and health plans like Capital Blue Cross and Select Health.

Cost Plus Drugs is not the only company targeting cheaper generics. In fact, the competition seems to be growing. Earlier this month, healthcare insurance giant Cigna Group announced plans to start selling drugs using a “cost plus” model similar to Cuban’s firm.

Though Oshmyansky runs the company’s day-to-day operations as CEO, Cuban, who tweets and speaks frequently about Cost Plus Drugs, appears to remain closely involved. In September, Cuban was listed as one of seven co-authors on a JAMA Internal Medicine study led by University of Texas researchers that found significant price disparities for services offered by a sampling of 60 hospitals depending on how patients asked for price information. The study found differences from the self-posted online cash prices for imaging and other healthcare services at 26% of the hospitals if patients called and asked over the phone. “At best, such erroneous prices may be amusing, but at worst, such errors may trigger further public annoyance with and distrust of our healthcare system,” the study noted.

If we get it right, [this] will be the most impactful thing I’ve ever done,” Cuban said of Cost Plus Drugs in the September 2022 interview. Cuban’s daughter, Alexis, is a “paid intern” at Cost Plus Drugs in Dallas, Texas, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Cuban’s other focus has been offering behind the scenes guidance to entrepreneurs. Forbes interviewed dozens of Shark Tank companies backed by Cuban last year and many reported being pleasantly surprised by the amount of guidance offered by their celebrity judge after filming ended. Kressa Peterson, the founder of Shower Toga who got an $40,000 investment from Mark Cuban in exchange for a 25% stake on Shark Tank’s Season 10, told Forbes on Thursday that she is still working closely with Cuban and his team.

“I still communicate with Mark weekly,” said Peterson, who emphasized that she doesn’t expect Cuban’s relationship with his Shark Tank investments to change even after he exits the show next year. “In knowing and working with mark these past four years, I can just about guarantee you that it won't matter Mark leaves Shark Tank,” said Peterson. “The last thing that guy will do is leave any one of us. He stays in contact with all of us as long as we’re not idiots.”

Peterson added that she is not surprised by the announcement of Cuban’s departure: “He’s always talked about how his father told him about basically time being the only thing you can’t purchase.... I know his wife and kids are just really important to him so it makes sense that maybe he wants to spend more time with them,” she said.

Even some entrepreneurs who sent Cuban cold pitches outside of the show said they receive regular support from the celebrity billionaire. “He remains probably the most responsive person I’ve never met,” Tim Ellis, the cofounder and CEO of reusable rocket company Relativity Space told Forbes in an interview last year. Ellis sent an email to Cuban in 2015 and the billionaire invested $500,000 in Ellis’ company, which was last valued by investors at $4.15 billion in a June 2021 fundraising round, according to Pitchbook. Ellis confirmed on Thursday that he is still hears from Cuban “frequently.”

Indeed, it seems unlikely that Cuban will fully step away from his work with entrepreneurs. “To me it’s the sport I get to compete in and I get to be really good at,” Cuban said in 2022 of vetting cold pitches from entrepreneurs. “I’ll be 110 years old still doing whatever is the equivalent 50 years from now of responding to email.”

Read Forbes’ 2022 cover story on Mark Cuban for more on the billionaire’s life and legacy.

Update, 11/30/23: This story was updated to include comments from entrepreneurs Kressa Peterson and Tim Ellis.

The Real Reason Mark Cuban Is Exiting Shark Tank–And Maybe The Mavericks (2024)

FAQs

The Real Reason Mark Cuban Is Exiting Shark Tank–And Maybe The Mavericks? ›

It's not a presidential run (like the rumor mill suggested) or a new entertainment endeavor that's pulling Mark Cuban away from the show “Shark Tank.” At least part of his departure may have to do with him wanting to spend more time with family.

Why is Mark Cuban leaving the show? ›

' Here's how some of his investments on the show have done. Mark Cuban is jumping out of the Shark Tank. The entrepreneur is winding up his 13-year tenure on the reality show to spend more time with his family and running his online pharmacy at the end of this season.

Does Cuban still own the Mavs? ›

Cuban retains a 27% ownership in the team, oversees basketball operations, and serves as the Mavericks' alternate governor. Companies owned by Cuban still hold other properties near Downtown Dallas in the Deep Ellum and Cedars neighborhoods.

How much did Cuban pay for the Mavs? ›

Cuban bought the Mavericks for $285 million in 2000, and is a familiar presence at his courtside seats.

Who owns the Mavericks Shark Tank? ›

Mark Cuban is an investor who lives for his family, his "Shark Tank" companies and the Dallas Mavericks.

Why is Mark Cuban done with Shark Tank? ›

His reply: "[Shark Tank] shoots in the summer and I want to spend that time with family before my kids are off on their own," Cuban told me.

Who is leaving Shark Tank in 2024? ›

Mark Cuban, a longtime “Shark Tank” business guru, says he is ready to invest less time on-air and more of it in his personal life. Cuban announced he will be leaving ABC's “Shark Tank” after its 16th season in 2025, more than a decade after he first joined the main cast in 2012.

What percent of the Mavericks does Mark Cuban own? ›

The deal was completed in December for $3.5 billion. As part of the unique agreement, Cuban retained ownership of 27 percent of the Mavericks and full oversight of basketball operations.

What teams does Mark Cuban own? ›

He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), co-owner of 2929 Entertainment, and one of the main "sharks" on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

How many owners own the Dallas Mavericks? ›

The NBA announced last week that the league's “Board of Governors has approved the sale of the controlling interest in the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban to the families of Dr. Miriam Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont.”

Where does Mark Cuban get most of his money? ›

In 2000, half a decade after becoming a billionaire at age 37, Cuban bought a controlling stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks for $285 million. As of 2022, it was reported that the franchise's value had reached $3.3 billion.

How much are the Mavericks worth today? ›

Forbes listed the value of the team at $4.5 billion in October 2023, making the Mavericks the seventh most valuable NBA franchise. Bloomberg reports that Adelson sold $2 billion worth of Las Vegas Sands Corp. stock before purchasing the Mavericks to help facilitate the sale.

How many businesses does Mark Cuban have? ›

Through his VC firm, Mark Cuban Companies, he's invested in over 400 businesses to date—but his 2000 deal for a stake in the Dallas Mavericks has been by far his most lucrative. Cuban owns 85% of the NBA team, which Forbes values at $3.3 billion.

Who did Lori Greiner marry? ›

She is married to Dan Greiner.

Who is the most successful Shark Tank investor? ›

While all the Sharks have their own successful pursuits, Mark Cuban is by far the richest Shark, with a net worth of $6.2 billion under his belt as of 2023.

Why is Mark selling the Mavs? ›

Diamond Sports, the company that owns the regional sports network that carries the Mavericks, is in bankruptcy proceedings. Cuban said the sale makes revenue from media rights deals much less of a concern for the Mavericks.

How much does Mark Cuban make per show? ›

Messages between Mark Cuban and Sony execs showed that Mark was going through contract negotiations for his appearances on the show. According to the emails, Mark was set to earn $30,000 per episode for Season 5; $31,200 for Season 6; and $32,488 for Season 7.

Which shark is not returning to Shark Tank? ›

Mark Cuban, the billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner, said he is leaving ABC's "Shark Tank." He recently announced his plans on the weekly Showtime podcast "All the Smoke," saying season 16 of "Shark Tank" will be his last.

Who owns Shark Tank now? ›

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”

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