Mark Cuban Stuns Shark Tank Fans, Announces Departure

ABC's Shark Tank is facing some pretty significant changes in the near future.

Longtime star Mark Cuban revealed during a recent appearance on the Showtime podcast All The Smoke that he was gearing up to exit the series.

Cuban, who has been with the show since its second season, told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he will depart after Shark Tank Season 16.

If you're not ready to say goodbye, you won't have to for a while because the veteran series is currently airing Season 15.

"It's time," he dished to hosts.

"I love [the show] because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well," Cuban explained.

"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.

"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 a mark to market meeting, the companies are still in operation. I'm way up."

Cuban later revealed what his idea of a good investment would be.

"I just listen to them. You can just tell. Body language matters," the longtime shark admitted.

"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 you're how hard it was for you, it's hard for every motherf–king entrepreneur.

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"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?'"

Sounds pretty interesting to us!

We must note that this isn't the first time Cuban has opened up about potentially departing.

In 2022, he told People he was considering leaving after the 15th season to spend time with his family.

"My daughter's in college now… When they were all in high school, all their schedules aligned," he said at the time.

"And so it was really easy to do the show," he added.

"But now, you know, family first, always. And so I wanted to try to make sure I spent as much time with my daughter as I can, and my family as I can."

Saying goodbye to someone who has had such a presence on the show for most of its run will be a big hurdle for the series.

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But fans may warm to whichever shark is circling to replace him, assuming he walks away from the show.

A lot can change between now and next year, but it does sound like Mark is ready to walk away.