Mark Cuban, the billionaire of Shark Tank fame, has recently expressed interest in buying both Fox News and Elon Musk’s X if he only had enough money.
A Long-Shot Idea
Cuban’s current net worth hovers around $5.7 billion as of writing, while the Fox News Corporation boasts a market cap of nearly $18 billion. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, and though the company’s current value is estimated to have declined by more than three-and-a-half times, that still puts X at around the $12.5 billion mark. Buying both companies is hypothetical for now, but one which Cuban has put a lot of thought into.
“You buy Fox News,” he told Wired. “If I had enough money to do it, which I don’t, I’d buy it in a heartbeat… You’ve got to pay at least 50 per cent premium. So now it’s $22 billion. And then you’ve got to make all the changes, so that’s another $2 billion… You can sell some things off. So maybe it’s $15 billion, $20 billion net. I don’t have $15 or $20 billion in cash sitting around.”
Why Buy Fox News?
The reality TV star discussed the baby boomer generation, or as he calls them, the “Fox News generation,” and considered how you would reach the older audience in a time of tension.
In an earlier interview with The New York Times, where he first used the term “Fox News generation,” Cuban expressed disappointment in his generation. They used to be about “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Still, now they’ve become a group of people who “condemn Black Lives Matter and watch Fox News in droves… It’s so upsetting to me. You have no idea.”
Cuban’s Many Problems With Musk’s X
Cuban sees similar issues in Musk’s X, which he would also consider buying. Of course, Musk would only have a reason to sell his new platform after trying to make it profitable again.
Cuban feels X’s algorithms have been reworked to suit Musk’s generally right-leaning political inclinations. This pattern has been apparent since the billionaire purchased Twitter in 2022. When Cuban suggested as much on Musk’s platform following arguments over affirmative action, Musk responded that his algorithm only responded to Cuban.
“If you interact and argue with ‘right wing’ accounts, which Cuban does a lot,” Musk argued, “the algorithm will assume that’s what you *want* to do and give you more of it lmao.”
In his Wired interview, Cuban retorted, “He who controls the algorithm controls the platform – controls that world, that community… And Elon has built, X has built, a very strong right-leaning community.”
Concerns Over Increasing Radicalization
Presumably, Cuban would want to restore X to its state before Musk allegedly changed the algorithm. Like Fox News, X’s shift toward radicalization concerns the Shark Tank billionaire.
Beyond their arguments over the changes in X’s algorithm, Cuban and Musk butted heads over workplace DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives, something which has increasingly been a topic of political discussion. Musk’s perspective on the matter is not exactly ambiguous, with the billionaire stating succinctly, “DEI must die.”
In contrast, Cuban had a more nuanced take on the issue. “You can’t hire less qualified people, because that’s business suicide. But you can go out and find the really, really smart people who aren’t being discovered. That’s the mission: to look where other people are not.”
Can Cuban’s Idea Become Reality?
Whether Cuban will work toward a purchase of either media giant is uncertain; the concept is a long shot. Although Cuban recently announced that the upcoming season of Shark Tank would be his last, perhaps the billionaire is setting up new ventures in the future.
