By Mark Gray
11:00am PST, Nov 29, 2023
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One of the TV's top sharks is about to swim back out to sea.
Mark Cuban has been a mainstay of ABC's "Shark Tank" for well over a decade, but his days on the reality TV show are now numbered. While appearing on the "All The Smoke" podcast in December 2023, the Dallas Mavericks owner declared that he has "one more year to go" with the show.
Keep clicking to learn how Mark feels about the show and his advice for entrepreneurs looking for a deal…
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Mark Cuban first joined the "Shark Tank" cast during its second season — and he's been there ever since.
While speaking on the "All The Smoke" podcast in November 2023, he detailed the simple reason why he's stayed around for so long.
"This is our 15th year and next year, our 16th year, is going to be my last year," he said. "I love ['Shark Tank'] because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well."
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Mark Cuban is often reminded of his lengthy tenure on "Shark Tank" when he runs into fans. "We've got people coming on saying I watched you when I was 10 years old. I'm like, f***," he said.
In addition to the billionaire, other sharks, or business experts, who've appeared on the show include Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John and Robert Herjavec.
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Although Mark Cuban plans to leave "Shark Tank," the show will go on. And Mark has advice for entrepreneurs hoping to score a deal in the tank.
"When someone walks in [on] 'Shark Tank,' you can tell if they are trying too hard. I have this rule: The longer the back story, the worse the deal," he said. "Tell me about your business, tell me why you are going to be successful. I look for ideas like, d***, why didn't I think of that."
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Among the most famous products pitched on "Shark Tank" are the Scrub Daddy, Coffee Meets Bagel, Cousins Maine Lobster and Doorbot, which was later renamed Ring.
Mark Cuban's investments aren't limited to just the show, though.
Over the summer of 2023, he spoke about having an early opportunity to invest in Uber, but he passed. During an appearance on Kevin Hart's "Hart to Heart" show, the "Shark Tank" star said he was asked for a $250,000 investment back in 2009, which would have given him 2.5% of Uber. Mark was interested in the venture but felt that the company was valued a little too high at the time. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick eventually found someone else to fill his spot. "[Travis] had an evaluation of like $10 million. I said, 'I'll do it at a $5 million evaluation for Uber.' [Travis] never came back to me," Mark laughed, adding that Travis "got somebody else." The Dallas Mavericks owner summed it up by saying, "Whoops."
Kevin told Mark that he was also given the early opportunity to invest in Uber, but he thought it was the "stupidest thing." Kevin was asked to invest $75,000 at the time. His share of Uber would now be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. "I still think about it to this day," the actor said.
Had Mark invested $250,000 in Uber in 2009, his shares would be worth $2.25 billion today.
