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Grace Abels
By Grace Abels November 6, 2024

Shark bait: Viral claim that Mark Cuban lost $1 billion after endorsing Harris originated as satire.

If Your Time is short

  • This claim originated as satire.

If you were surfing the internet, you may have seen this shark-related claim.

"Mark Cuban’s Net Worth Takes a $1 Billion Hit After Controversial Endorsement: ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’" read a Nov. 4 Threads post. The post links to an article that claims, "In a twist that even Shark Tank viewers couldn’t have seen coming, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s net worth reportedly dropped by a staggering $1 billion mere hours after endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency." 

Did "Shark Tank" star, Dallas Mavericks minority owner and business investor Mark Cuban lose $1 billion dollars following his endorsement of Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election Nov. 5 to former President Donald Trump? No, this claim originated as satire. 


(Screenshot of Threads post)

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

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The same claim was shared first Nov. 2 by SpaceX Fanclub, a known satire account. Its Facebook page reads, "We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real." The satire post links to an article on Esspots, also a known satire website. 

But when the claim was reshared on Threads, it was not labeled as satire. PolitiFact has fact-checked numerous claims that have originated on SpaceX Fanclub and Esspots that have later spread without a satire label

Featured Fact-check

The article linked in the viral Threads post is identical to the satire story shared Nov. 2 on Esspots. 

PolitiFact also searched the Nexis news database for headlines about Cuban’s net worth dropping and found no reports. The article shared in the Threads post also refers to posts and public comments that Cuban supposedly made to the media, but PolitiFact found no evidence of those comments

According to Forbes, Cuban’s net worth has actually risen since his public endorsement of Harris. An archived Forbes profile of Cuban from July 17, lists a net worth of $5.4 billion. He, along with other venture capitalists, endorsed Kamala Harris on July 31.

As of Nov. 6, Forbes lists Cuban’s net worth as $5.7 billion.

The claim that Cuban’s net worth took a $1 billion hit after endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris originated as satire.

We rate this claim False.

Our Sources

Threads post (archived), Nov. 4, 2024

Top Story 360, "Mark Cuban’s Net Worth Takes a $1 Billion Hit After Controversial Endorsement: ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’," Nov. 4, 2024

Facebook post, Nov. 2, 2024

Facebook profile, accessed Nov. 6, 2024

Esspots, "Mark Cuban’s Net Worth Drops by $1 Billion After His Big Endorsement: "Go Woke Go Broke"," Nov. 2, 2024

X search, "money comes and goes" from @mcuban" Nov. 6, 2024

Google Search, "I’m not worried about my net worth. I backed Kamala Harris" Mark Cuban," Nov. 6, 2024 

Forbes, "Mark Cuban net worth archived," July 17, 2024

The Guardian, "Venture capitalists including Mark Cuban back Kamala Harris’s campaign," July 31, 2024

Forbes, "Mark Cuban net worth," accessed Nov. 6, 2024

PolitiFact, "Satirical story about Candace Owens trying to ban Taylor Swift from the NFL spreads without context," June 25, 2024

PolitiFact, "Taylor Swift isn’t banned from upcoming NFL games (but maybe this zombie claim should be)," Sept. 26, 2024

PolitiFact, "Claims Elon Musk endorsed Caitlin Clark originated on satire site," Aug. 6, 2024

PolitiFact, "Taylor Swift did not lose a $125 million brand contract after endorsing Kamala Harris," Sept. 20, 2024

PolitiFact, "Claim that Elon Musk is funding ‘anti-woke’ show with Tucker Carlson is satire," Sept. 12, 2024

PolitiFact, "No, Steelers coach did not call Pride Month ‘woke crap.’ That claim started as satire," June 14, 2024

PolitiFact, "Not the real thing: Coca-Cola didn’t break ties with Taylor Swift after Kamala Harris endorsement," Sept. 18, 2024

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PolitiFact, "Jason Aldean didn’t refuse $500 million collaboration with Taylor Swift because her "music is woke"," Aug. 26, 2024

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Shark bait: Viral claim that Mark Cuban lost $1 billion after endorsing Harris originated as satire.

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