Billionaire investor Mark Cuban said he’s hasn’t ruled out a presidential bid against incumbent Donald Trump in the next election.
When asked on Monday whether he’d given more thought to the issue, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and co-host of “Shark Tank” told The New York Times in an email “Yes. But not willing to discuss at this point.”
Cuban, an outspoken critic of President Trump, has previously said his decision whether to run hinges on whether his wife and family would allow it.
I would run as a “Republican before Democrat and most likely independent,” Cuban said at The New York Times DealBook Conference in November.
“I think there is an incremental value for setting up an independent candidacy,” he added in November. “The benefit of being an independent is you go right to the golden ticket time, if I get enough support in the polls then I get to participate in the debates.”
Cuban’s latest comment comes amid growing speculation that a number of familiar business faces could make a bid for the White House in 2020.
The theory appeared to gain ground Monday after Howard Schultz, outgoing chairman and former chief executive of Starbucks, announced his intention to vacate his place on the board later this month.
A longtime supporter of former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during her bid for president, Schultz told employees in a memo that he’s considering several paths forward, including philanthropy and public service.
Though he’s previously denied speculation that he could run for the nation’s top office, he told Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC and The New York Times that he remains undecided.
“I want to be truthful with you without creating more speculative headlines. For some time now, I have been deeply concerned about our country — the growing division at home and our standing in the world. One of the things I want to do in my next chapter is to figure out if there is a role I can play in giving back. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet,” he told Sorkin on Monday.
Read The New York Times’ full article here.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank,” which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.
