Mark Cuban invested 'about $33 million' on 'Shark Tank'—those stakes are now worth 'at least $250 million,' he says
The billionaire entrepreneur and investor's final episode of ABC's "Shark Tank" aired on Friday, marking the end of his 15-season run on the show. Investing isn't a science, so it's no surprise that Cuban had his share of hits and misses on the show — but the billionaire will exit with a healthy portfolio, he says.
Cuban invested "about $33 million" in total during his time on the show, he tells CNBC Make It. From those investments, he estimates he's received up to $35 million in cash returns, and his mark-to-market equity from those businesses is worth "at least $250 million."
"I'm f—ing crushing it on the market," Cuban told Fortune in January, referring to the overall market value of the dozens of companies he's invested in since joining "Shark Tank" in 2011.
On camera, Cuban committed as much as $61.9 million to more than 200 deals, according to the website Shark Tank Insights — but the deals that happen on-screen don't always result in consummated investments after the fact.More notably, Cuban has said that his primary goal with "Shark Tank" investments wasn't even centered around making money.
"I don't do the show to get the best investments," he wrote on Twitter in July 2022, in a post that no longer appears on the social media platform, now known as X. "And I don't always invest because I think I'll make money. Sometimes my deals are purely to help [an entrepreneur] or send a message." (Cuban, a vegetarian since at least 2019, invested in multiple vegan food brands on the show.)
At the time, Cuban noted that he'd taken a net loss "on a cash basis" from his "Shark Tank" investments, before accounting for the value of his actively held stakes. Now, he says he's coming out ahead in terms of both cash and mark-to-market, an accounting term that refers to assessing an asset, like an investment, based on its current fair market value.
Mark-to-market is basically a way for Cuban to determine the overall value of his investments, some of which he's yet to exit, based on how the market value of those businesses has grown since he first invested.
Cuban's past comments have provided a window into the billionaire's investing strategy, at least when it comes to the TV show.
"What really gets me going is when people have an operating business where they've already gone for it. And they've invested everything," Cuban told TV Tango in 2011. "They've put their heart, their soul, their time, everything that they have available to them into the business. And they've laid it on the line. And they just need a little bit of help."
Cuban also appreciates any entrepreneur's level of raw effort, intelligence and "ability to sell," he said. The more money he puts on the line, however, the less willing he is to take a risk on something that won't recoup his investment, he noted.
"I contrast [those factors] to the risk-reward of the business or of the investment," said Cuban. "So in other words, if I'm investing $10,000, there's a different risk-reward profile than if I'm investing a million dollars.",
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