Shark Tank: Mark Cuban leaves TV series after 14 years

Mark Cuban is officially swimming out of the Shark Tank, and this time, it’s for good. 

The billionaire entrepreneur—who first dipped his toes into the tank as a guest panelist in 2011 before locking in a full-time spot the following year—has confirmed that the Season 16 finale, airing May 16, will be his final pitch session.

“Gonna miss it,” Cuban wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on May 15. “But it was time to move on.”

And to be fair, he’s had this plotted out like one of his investment deals. 

Cuban first shared his plans to step away back in 2023, explaining that he felt his mission had been accomplished. 

“I feel like in doing Shark Tank all these years,” he said on the All The Smoke podcast, “we've trained multiple generations of entrepreneurs that, if somebody can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on Shark Tank and show their business and get a deal, it's going to inspire generations of kids.”

But if you think this is just a business decision, think again. 

Cuban—dad to Alexis, 22, Alyssa, 19, and Jake, 15, with wife Tiffany Stewart—made it clear that family was a huge part of his choice to swim away from the set. 

In an October interview with People, he shared, “My kids are teenagers and I want to spend more time with them.”

He went on to explain how the filming schedule made that tough. 

“We always shoot in June and September, and in June, right when they're finishing school, I have to come here,” he said. 

“When they were young it was like, ‘OK, we're going to wait for Dad.’ Now that they're teenagers, they aren't waiting for Dad at all, and in September they've just gotten back to school. I want to be there for that.”

Even though he’s making the exit with confidence, Cuban admitted leaving behind the Shark Tank team won’t be the easiest part of the deal. 

“Most of them have been here for 15 years and it's family,” he said. “We all look forward to getting together twice a year for a long time and seeing each other for 12 hours a day.”

So while he may be out on TV deals, Cuban’s definitely all in on family time. And honestly, that might be the most solid investment of them all.