Mark Cuban, renowned entrepreneur and investor on the TV show Shark Tank, has garnered renewed attention for his practice of sharing profits with employees following company sales.
In a recent post on X, Mr Cuban revealed that 300 of the 330 employees at Broadcast.com became millionaires when the audio streaming service was sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock in 1999. This approach extends beyond Broadcast.com, with Mr Cuban stating, "In every business I've sold, I've paid out bonuses to every employee that was there more than a year."
Mr Cuban further elaborated on instances where he distributed a portion of the proceeds to employees at Microsolutions and HDNet (now known as AXS TV). Notably, these sales were not accompanied by layoffs, demonstrating a commitment to employee well-being beyond financial rewards.
In every business I've sold I've paid out bonuses to every employee that was there more than a year. https://t.co/02NdL9a41q, 300 out of 330 employees became millionaires. Microsolutions, I paid out 20 pct to our 80 employees. HDNet wasn’t as big , but paid out about 20pct… https://t.co/hTvCZnVvUF
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 5, 2024
Mark Cuban's entrepreneurial journey began with MicroSolutions, a software firm he sold to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990 (as reported by CNBC). Demonstrating his commitment to employee well-being, Cuban reportedly distributed 20% of the proceeds among his 80 employees, resulting in an approximate $15,000 windfall for each staff member (if divided equally).
"It was f****ed up," Barstool Sports' quoted him as saying in Pardon My Take podcast in 2020. But it also presented a silver lining. "It made us get our s*** together."
However, 5 years later, the business bounced back and Cuban sold MicroSolutions to become a millionaire. "You have to hustle the most when you think it's the darkest," he said.