[ahc]

While I love Mark Cuban, this move is clearly not just out of the "goodness of his heart". He is a savvy investor. The production company (Finnmax) was receiving the equity stake, not the sharks. He rightly felt that the clause was limiting the quality of startups trying to get on the show. Now that he's used his leverage to get rid of it, he will get better opportunities to invest in.

He also gets the benefit of now seeming more entrepreneur friendly than the other sharks, which increases he chance of participating in deals.

[JRobertson]

He also doesn't have to share stake in a company with a detached investor who literally got paid to get the equity.

If you think about it it's kind of insulting to his time where his only payback for being on the show is payback from deals he makes.

Where as Finnmax gets paid to produce the show, then takes a cut of every company, and likely does little to help the company advance. This would be extra telling for multi-million dollar valuations where the sharks end up getting single digit shares themselves and are expected to bring many contacts and continue to work with and mentor the investors.

[alttag]

Because surely, when self-interest and altruism align, the real cause must be self-interest.

In retrospect, that's an easy argument to make, but maybe there was some risk they'd accept his ultimatum and not bring him back for the second season?