Mark Cuban and Amazon

To view a version of this email in a browser, [click here](. INC. THIS MORNING Mark Cuban and Amazon Good morning, Imagine being Mark Cuban: billionaire, flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks, on-again, off-again potential presidential candidate, and "shark" on the popular TV pitch show Shark Tank. You can do a lot of things: buy pretty much anything you want, attend any event in the world, gather a crowd and get them to listen to you, and probably invest in literally anything. Given that last point, it might be a bit surprising to hear Cuban reveal that the two biggest investments he's made are ones that you, I, or virtually anyone in the U.S. could make (albeit on a smaller scale). His disclosures came in two places. The first was during [a fascinating hour-long discussion]( with Neil Cavuto of Fox Business News on Monday. At one point, they started talking about Peloton, which tanked in its IPO last week. Cuban said he thinks Peloton is "emblematic of a bigger problem: companies that have to buy revenue, that think they can't just grow organically." The exchange continued: Cuban: "You've seen it with Uber. You've seen it with Lyft. I was an investor in Lyft.” Cavuto: “When you say buy revenue, explain. Something to keep momentum going?” Cuban: “So if you have to just keep on spending more money in advertising than you're gaining in revenue ...” Cavuto: “But wasn't that the Amazon model in the beginning?” Cuban: “In the beginning, yes, but they were able to expand their business and increase their margins ...” Cavuto: “They were always cashflow positive.” Cuban: “They were for the most part. And to disclose, I have close to like a billion dollars in Amazon stock. It's my biggest [stock].” Cavuto: “You and me both. It's so weird. It's so uncanny.” The analysis of what's wrong with so many IPOs now is worth the price of admission here, especially when you bring in the second source: [an interview Cuban gave]( on CNBC in May, in which he said Amazon and Netflix were his two biggest holdings. "It's been that way for years," he said then, without disclosing the amounts involved at the time. He also [revealed last year]( that he's kept a lot of his estimated $4.2 billion net worth out of the market: "a whole lot of cash on the sidelines," as he put it. Fascinating. People sometimes say that low interest rates have translated into easy money for startups. WeWork is often [cited as a perfect example](. However, out here in the fields, where many entrepreneurs are trying to raise seed money and early rounds, it can be a real slog. It’s easy to say that people like Cuban should be pouring more, higher-risk capital into much earlier stage startups -- and I don't mean to suggest he doesn't do enough for early-stage ventures. A year ago, Inc. staff writer Emily Canal [examined Cuban’s record]( on Shark Tank and found that merely lending his name to a company could be a very valuable asset. Big parts of his interview with Cavuto were devoted to the challenges faced by startups in his investment portfolio. Still, the idea that someone like Cuban can survey the entire world and come up with a strategy that's basically [FAANG]( minus three letters? That's something I find really surprising. And maybe a little troubling, if you're out here trying to raise money for a venture of your own. HERE'S WHAT ELSE I'M READING TODAY: [Mark Zuckerberg promises to “go to the mat”]( against Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) if she’s elected president and tries to break up Facebook. --Inc. [Warren seems less than concerned.]( --The New York Times Google has dominated maps for a decade. Apple just announced [its plan to fight back](. --Inc. NASA has given Elon Musk [a big reality check](. --The Atlantic [Bike shops, climbing walls, and lemon groves]( Inside the offices of America's hottest startups. --Inc. British prime minister Boris Johnson is accused of [burying unfavorable Google results]( by giving quotes on unrelated topics with the same search terms. --Wired UK This Pennsylvania hatmaker has been in business for 151 years. [Here's why it's not going anywhere.]( --Inc. [A federal judge ruled for Harvard University]( in a big admissions discrimination lawsuit. --The New York Times --Bill Murphy Jr. Contributing Editor, Inc.com Story ideas and feedback actively solicited. Find me at [billmurphyjr@inc.com](mailto:billmurphyjr@inc.com?subject=), or on [LinkedIn]( [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Click here]( to forward to a friend. This email was sent by: Mansueto Ventures 7 World Trade Center, 29th Floor New York, NY, 10007, [Unsubscribe]( • [Update Profile]( • [View in Browser]( • [Forward to a Friend](