Mark Cuban’s squabble with X owner Elon Musk comes after years of support for DEI

Dallas billionaire and minority owner of the Mavericks Mark Cuban went viral Wednesday night on social media for challenging Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and owner of X, over his beliefs on diversity, equity and inclusion.

But it’s not the first time Cuban has shared his thoughts and even invested in companies or projects incorporating people of all backgrounds. The tweet thread ultimately fired up his thoughts about an important business practice.

Musk wrote “Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism,” which prompted Cuban to the platform to share his own thoughts on the value of diversity, equity and inclusion. In a thread that included each word in the acronym, Cuban said diversity, equity and inclusion efforts ultimately “find people that are more qualified.”

At Chase for Business’ Make Your Move Summit on Nov. 2, Cuban told business owners in the crowd all about his support for diversity.

“When people talk about diversity and DEI, a lot of people roll their eyes,” Cuban told attendees. “I’m all for it, because I want everybody to be a Mavs fan and the easiest way for me to connect to them, and it applies to all my businesses, is by having a diverse sales force, a diverse support staff, because people connect faster to people who look like them.”

He praised Cynt Marshall, the CEO of the Mavs that he hired in 2018 and the first Black woman to head up an NBA team, calling her a “force of nature.”

“When people see somebody who looks like them or is from where they’re from, the door opens a lot faster,” Cuban said.

He said what’s missing in the country and across the world when it comes to business is trust. Even though people want to trust one another, people are always questioning motives, he said.

Diversity, equity and inclusion has been a topic of conversation in Texas and all around the country over the last few years. After the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, companies, schools and other communities began raising awareness and showing support through different ways for people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

But that has incited a backlash against diversity efforts. Most recently, Texas passed a law banning DEI offices from college campuses after Jan. 1.

Cuban has a track record of putting his money where his mouth is.

In 2020, Cuban contributed $100,000 to the National Association of Black Journalists’ COVID-19 relief fund, which helped journalists who were laid off during the pandemic. That same year, he pledged $250,000 to the Indiana Daily Student, a student paper at his alma mater, Indiana University, for the paper’s Black Voices section, highlighting the voices of Black students at the college.

“I need all of us to really open up and talk to each other, even when it’s difficult,” he said during a speech at a Mavs franchise event organized to address systemic racism and disparities facing the Black community.

His players, like former Mavs point guard Jalen Brunson, supported him when the team stopped playing the national anthem before games.

“For him to have his voice and use it the way he does just shows you the type of person he is,” Brunson said in 2021.

In 2022, Cuban gave a talk at Venture Dallas, a conference for investors and entrepreneurs, where he was interviewed by Arlan Hamilton, a Black venture capitalist who received a $6 million investment from Cuban.

She founded Backstage Capital in 2015, and her firm invests only in companies led by women, people of color or those who identify as LGBTQ.

“You treat me like you treat white men, which is a compliment because you will tell them when you don’t like something,” Hamilton told Cuban. “You’ll tell me when you don’t like something. And I’ll never have to guess where I stand with you.”

Also during that 2022 conversation, Cuban commented on Musk’s purchase of Twitter, saying, “I survived before Twitter, If he screws it all up, I’ll survive, we all will, but it’s his company. He gets to do whatever he damn well pleases.”

Cuban recently sold majority interest of the Mavericks to two families who head the Las Vegas Sands Corp., with hopes of getting gambling legalized in Texas and ultimately building an arena-casino-resort development.

In addition to the Mavericks, Cuban is known for his role on ABC’s Shark Tank and the bulk of his time is in the pharmaceutical business with his company Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.

He also has a hand in or serves as an adviser for companies in an array of fields including artificial intelligence, apparel, blockchain and sports. His companies on markcubancompanies.com are even divided by leaders of diverse groups: minority-led, women-led and military founders.