In an era of record corporate profits and soaring stock markets, tens of millions of American workers still earn poverty-level wages. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, known for his role on ABC's Shark Tank and as the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has added his voice to the growing chorus calling for a dramatic increase in the federal minimum wage. In a recent social media post, Cuban stated, 'I’ve said before I think raising the federal minimum wage to $20 is smart.'
The current federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009. That translates to just $15,080 annually for a full-time worker—less than a third of the average American salary of around $60,000. With the cost of living rising sharply in recent years, over 40 million Americans rely on food assistance programs like SNAP to get by. Cuban finds this situation unacceptable, especially for employees of companies that are generating substantial profits.
'When I heard people who worked for a company I invested in (but didn’t run) needed government assistance, I made sure they all got raises,' Cuban wrote. 'It was embarrassing to me that we didn’t pay enough.' This sentiment reflects a broader philosophy that Cuban has practiced throughout his career: sharing the financial success of a business with the people who helped build it.
The Case for a $20 Minimum Wage
Raising the federal minimum wage to $20 per hour would more than double the current rate. No U.S. state currently mandates such a high minimum, though several states and cities have adopted rates above $15. Economists remain divided on the potential impact. Supporters argue that higher wages boost consumer spending, reduce employee turnover, and improve productivity. Critics warn that small businesses may struggle to afford the increase and could cut jobs or automate.
Cuban, however, dismisses these fears for companies that have moved beyond the startup phase. 'Of course as a startup, survival comes first,' he said. 'But as you grow out of that phase of your lifecycle, you will start to learn that the more every stakeholder beyond you thrive, the better your company performs and the more financial success and just as importantly, your quality of life improves.' He emphasizes that reducing financial stress among employees directly benefits the business through higher morale, lower absenteeism, and better customer service.
The billionaire also advocates for a concept he calls 'trickle-up' economics. In contrast to the traditional trickle-down theory, which holds that tax cuts and benefits for the wealthy eventually reach everyone, Cuban believes that putting more money in the hands of low- and middle-income workers creates a stronger economy from the bottom up. 'We do all we can to get appreciable assets and higher wages into the hands of people who have to live paycheck to paycheck,' he explained.
Mark Cuban's Record of Creating Millionaires
Cuban’s advocacy is backed by his own track record. He claims to have helped create at least a thousand millionaires throughout his career. His first major success came with MicroSolutions, a computer consulting company he founded in 1983. When he sold the company to CompuServe in 1990 for $6 million, Cuban gave 20% of the profits to his 80 employees.
His most famous wealth-sharing event occurred with Broadcast.com, an internet streaming company he co-founded in 1995. After the company went public and was later acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for $5.7 billion in stock, approximately 300 of the 330 employees became millionaires. The company’s stock options turned secretaries, engineers, and salespeople into overnight millionaires, a story that became legendary in Silicon Valley.
Later, with HDNet, a high-definition television network launched in 2003, Cuban implemented a similar profit-sharing plan. Although the company was smaller, he again distributed 20% of profits to employees. In 2024, even after selling his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban paid out over $35 million in bonuses to the team’s non-player staff, including arena workers, front-office employees, and support staff.
Profit Sharing as a Business Strategy
Cuban’s approach is not purely altruistic; he sees it as good business. By aligning employee compensation with company success, he argues that workers become more engaged and entrepreneurial. They take ownership of their roles and are more likely to contribute innovative ideas. This philosophy mirrors the practices of other successful tech leaders, such as Jensen Huang of Nvidia, who has boasted of creating more billionaires on his team than any other CEO. Similarly, the Australian design platform Canva allowed eligible employees to sell up to $3 million worth of shares in 2025, creating a wave of new millionaires.
Cuban has also called for broader structural changes in how companies compensate workers. In response to a 2025 Oxfam report showing that billionaire wealth increased by $33 trillion over the past decade while average worker wages grew only 0.5%, he proposed a bold solution: 'Why are we not giving incentives to companies to require them to give shares in their companies to all employees, at the same percentage of cash earnings as the CEO?' He believes that stock ownership should not be limited to top executives but extended to every employee, creating a more equitable distribution of the wealth generated by the company.
This idea is already gaining traction in some forward-thinking companies. After Klarna's public listing in 2025, more than 40 employees became millionaires due to the company’s generous stock option program. Cuban points to such examples as proof that broad-based equity ownership is feasible and beneficial.
The current debate over the federal minimum wage is part of a larger conversation about income inequality, the cost of living, and the role of corporations in society. Cuban’s voice carries weight because he has demonstrated that paying workers well and sharing success can go hand in hand with building a profitable business. His message is clear: It is not only morally right to pay a living wage, but it also makes sound financial sense. As he put it, the less stress employees have about paying bills, the less stress they bring to the workplace, and the better the business performs.
Source:MSN News