Photo Courtesy of Danny Fulgencio
Billionaire and neighbor Mark Cuban is making headlines once again, but this time it’s not for his new drug company or his feud with Ted Cruz. Instead, Cuban took to Reddit on Tuesday to do a question and answer session with r/wallstreetbets, the sub-Reddit that served as the catalyst for the recent Wall Street fiasco.
Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks’ and is a regular on NBC series “Shark Tank,” has often been critical of Wall Street, saying to the Wall Street Journal in 2015 that “The [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] doesn’t know how to do its job.” He went on to say that the stock market isn’t safe for consumer investors.
This may have been proven correct in light of GameStop’s recent fall in the stock market. Cuban, however, affirmed and praised the investors for disrupting Wall Street.
“Thanks for changing the game. Thanks for taking on Wall Street…[Wall Street Bets] changed the game far more than everyone on this board will ever get credit for,” Cuban said in a post. “That said, you will do all this again. You will go after [Wall Street], and the next time, you will be smarter. There was only one thing that messed you all up: Robinhood and the other zero commission brokers that everyone used didn’t have enough capital to fund the fight. They let you down in a big way.”
Robinhood, an investment app, has been a subject of controversy lately, with lawsuits popping up after the app limited trading on GameStop Inc. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., among others.
Cuban blamed the recent stock market fall on the investment app and supply and demand, saying, “When [Robinhood] shut it down, then cut it back, let’s put aside why, they cut off the greatest source of demand.”
He also offered advice to investors, some of whom have lost thousands of dollars as of late.
“If you can afford to hold the stock, you hold. I don’t own it, but that’s what I would do,” Cuban said. “Why? because when [Robinhood] and the other online brokers open it back up to buyers, then we will see what [Wall Street Bets] is really made of. That is when you get to make it all work.”
Throughout the session, Cuban offered insight into stimulus payments and the concept of shorting. He also regularly affirmed the mission of Wall Street Bets and applauded their work.
“No disruption is easy or happens in a straight line. Stay with it. I am a believer,” Cuban said.
Read the full question and answer session here.
Cuban’s comments were lightly edited for grammatical and spelling errors.
