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Despite their ideological differences, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is a fan of Elon Musk’s business acumen and willingness to take big risks on ambitious projects.
“Put aside his genius in coming up and running these companies, the one thing I respect the most about Elon Musk — and he does more than anybody I’ve ever seen — and that is he goes all in,” Cuban said on an episode of “The All-In Podcast” released Thursday. “He takes every cent he has and he believes in it, and he goes all motherf—ing in. He never hedges his bet, at all.”
“Until Twitter,” Cuban added as a caveat to that. When Musk bought Twitter, now known as X, for $44 billion back in October 2022, he pooled his own money with bank loans and capital raised from other investors.
Since then, however, X’s valuation has tanked. That’s in large part thanks to Musk’s deregulation of hate speech on the site, including an antisemitic post from the owner himself, in favor of “free speech,” which has driven away advertisers in droves.
Aside from owning the social media site, Musk has co-founded seven companies, including electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA), aerospace firm SpaceX, and artificial intelligence startup xAI. He is currently the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $258.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Cuban said he is a “huge fan” of Musk as an entrepreneur — but when it comes to the Tesla and SpaceX chief’s social media habits, Cuban isn’t too fond of him.
“What he’s been able to accomplish is insane, it’s incredible. I would never diminish anything he’s done as an entrepreneur,” Cuban said. “As a Twitter user? He’s a f—ing troll. I mean, he just trolls to troll to troll.”
The two billionaires have butted heads on a number of issues since Musk publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump’s latest bid for the White House. In a widely read post on Sunday, for example, Musk baselessly claimed the White House was secretly importing migrants to sway the coming election in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Last month, Cuban said he believes Musk is backing Trump because “having the power to manipulate the most powerful man in the world is far more valuable in the world than any amount of [electric vehicle] sales from Tesla.”
“Elon is all in [on Trump],” Cuban added. “That’s why I like to f— with him on Twitter.”
In a post on X Sunday, Cuban warned Musk that Trump’s “loyalty is only to himself.” Cuban voted for Trump in 2016, but has become a vocal supporter of the Harris campaign, signing at least two pledges in support of the vice president. He has promoted Harris as staunchly pro-business and a political moderate.
While Cuban and Musk continue to clash, Cuban admitted that — aside from being an X user — he also drives a Tesla (and a Kia (HYMTF) electric vehicle).
