Mark Cuban Quitting ‘Shark Tank’ After Over A Decade Spent As An Investor On ABC’s Hit Series: “It’s Time”

Mark Cuban may be swimming away from Shark Tank soon. On a recent episode of Showtime Basketball’s All The Smoke podcast, the business mogul revealed that he plans to exit the hit ABC reality show after Season 16, per People.

Cuban, who first joined the show as an investor in Season 2 back in 2011, broke the news to hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he is sticking around for one more year.

“This is our 15th year, and next year, our 16th year, is gonna be my last year,” he said. “So I got one more year to go.”

While he claimed that “it’s time” for his departure, he explained that he loves taking part in the show “because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well.”

“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,” he shared. “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, fuck. But we’re helping them right? I’ve invested in, I don’t even know how many hundreds of companies.”

Decider reached out to a representative for Shark Tank for confirmation of Cuban’s departure.

Barnes asked the Dallas Mavericks owner — whom he described as “infamous for sniffing out the bullshit” — what he looks for in order to do just that, Cuban replied that he “just listen[s] to them.”

“You can just tell,” he added. “And body language matters because the harder they have to try to sell, the worse the deal. When someone walks in on Shark Tank, you can tell if they are trying too hard.”

Cuban also cited a “rule” of his: “the longer the backstory, the worse the deal.”

“Meaning, the minute you start telling me how hard it was for you? It’s hard for every motherfucking entrepreneur,” he continued. “Tell me about your business, tell me why you are going to be successful.”

Ultimately, he said that he looks for ideas that make him think, “Damn, why didn’t I think of that?”

Shark Tank airs on Fridays at 8/7c ABC.