Mark Cuban Says Employee Ownership Is Morally and Economically Necessary

After an Oxfam report revealed that global billionaire wealth has surged by $33 trillion since 2015, Shark Tank star Mark Cuban told Fortune that it is time for companies to share ownership with employees.

On X (formerly Twitter), Cuban noted that the rise in CEO pay has largely been driven by the stock market. “The better question,” he said, “is, 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?”

In the Fortune article, Cuban said that capitalism itself isn’t broken, but wealth has become too concentrated. Cuban noted that studies have consistently shown that sharing ownership widely improves corporate performance and reduces turnover. He argues that employee ownership is the right thing to do morally.

Cuban practiced what he preached at the companies he owned, all of which provided employees with a substantial equity stake and/or an equity-based bonus when the companies were sold.