Kevin O’Leary reveals he ‘tried’ to stop Mark Cuban from leaving ‘Shark Tank’

Kevin O’Leary I wasn’t ready for Marc Cuban to say goodbye shark tank.

“I tried to swing that decision around because it’s been part of the DNA of the show for so long,” O’Leary, 70, said exclusively. Us Weekly during an interview with Daniel Lubetzky. “But I understand his reasons, and he put a lot of thought into it and he did it for family reasons and I understand exactly why. We will obviously miss him.”

O’Leary shared the latest recording of shark tank with Cuban, 66, was “very emotional,” noting that the essence of the show does not lie with the sharks. He explained that the “real stars” of the show are the entrepreneurs.

“They’re going to go on and go on and go on and that’s what we all understand and our job is to nurture them, fund them, try to pick the winners, because we don’t get it right all the time, and give them a platform and be those ambassadors of the American dream,” he said we.

Mark Cuban Announces Leaving ‘Shark Tank’ After Season 16: ‘It’s Time’

Although Cuban is no longer a shark, his friendship with O’Leary will not end.

“I’m going to meet with Mark a lot,” O’Leary said we. “First of all, we have a lot of agreements over 16 years of working together. But also, he’s on a risky path. So am I. We run into each other all the time. I consider him a close friend. I mean, he’s come to my house and he has met my children. What else do we do after 16 years?”

Cuban revealed in November 2023 that he would be leaving shark tank. “This is our 15th year, and next year, our 16th year, will be my last year,” Cuban said on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” basketball podcast. “So I have one more year to go.”

After being on the show for more than a decade, Cuban explained that he felt “it’s time” to move on. (Cuban joined the series as a guest star during Season 2 in 2011, signing on as a full-time panelist in Season 3.)

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Cuban said he has a lot of love for the show and also for the entrepreneurs. “I love it because it sends the message (that) the American dream is alive and well,” he explained. “I feel like doing it shark tank Over the years, we’ve trained several generations of entrepreneurs that if someone can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on the carpet of shark tank and show your business and get a deal, will inspire generations of kids. That’s what happens, right?”

He continued, “Now we have people saying, ‘I looked up to you when I was 10.’ I’m like, ‘F—. But we’re helping them, right? I’ve invested in, I don’t know how many hundreds of companies.’

Season 16 of shark tank airs on ABC Fridays at 8pm ET and airs on Hulu the following day.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi