Billionaire venture capitalist Mark Cuban announced he’s leaving the hit ABC reality series, “Shark Tank,” after season 16.
The 65-year-old owner of the Dallas Mavericks made the revelation during an episode of the Showtime podcast, “All The Smoke,” per Deadline.
“It’s time,” Cuban said of his decision to move on from the series.
He’s been one of the main investors on the show for most of its run after appearing as a guest star in season 2. “Shark Tank” has been popular since it premiered in 2009. The series, which was created by Mark Burnett, allows hopeful entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to the “sharks” in hopes of getting an investment.
The other longtime shark investors on the show include Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary.
“I love it because it sends the message the American Dream is alive and well,” Cuban told the podcast hosts. “I feel like in doing ‘Shark Tank’ all these years, we’ve trained multiple generations of entrepreneurs that if somebody can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on the carpet of Shark Tank and show their business and get a deal, it’s going to inspire generations of kids.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
He continued, “That’s what happens, right? Now we’ve got people coming on saying I watched you when I was 10 years old. I’m like, f***. But we’re helping them right? I’ve invested in, I don’t know how many hundreds of companies. On a cash basis, I’m down a little bit, but on mark to market meeting, the companies are still in operation. I’m way up.”
In response to a question about how he determines what makes a good investment on “Shark Tank,” Cuban said much of it comes down to the person more than the product.
“I just listen to them. You can just tell,” the billionaire businessman said. “Body language matters, the harder they have to try to sell, the worse the deal … when someone walks in ‘Shark Tank,’ you can tell if they are trying too hard. I have this rule: the longer the back story, the worse the deal. The minute you start telling me how hard it was for you, it’s hard for every motherf***ing entrepreneur, tell me about your business, tell me why you are going to be successful.”
“I look for ideas like, damn, why didn’t I think of that,” Cuban added.