Billionaire Mark Cuban is calling for a shift in how companies treat their workers. His message? If a CEO gets paid in company stock, employees should get the same percentage, too.
“I think every employee should be the same percent of their earnings in company stock as the CEO,” Cuban recently posted on social media.
His idea comes as billionaire wealth has exploded. An Oxfam report found that billionaire fortunes have jumped $33 trillion since 2015. Cuban pointed to the stock market as the key reason behind this surge.
“The stock market has gone straight up,” he posted on X. “You know who is funding the increase, particularly lately? Retail investors. 401ks.”
A Push for Equal Ownership
Cuban isn’t just calling out the system, he’s offering a solution. He says it’s time for companies to give shares to all employees at the same percentage of their income as they do for CEOs.
“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?” he asked.
Many companies do offer employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs), but they usually come with limits.
For example, Intel lets employees buy stock at a discount up to 15% of their salary, with a cap of $21,250.
Adobe offers a similar plan with a 25% salary limit, also capped at $21,250.
Wealth Isn’t the Problem, According to Cuban
Cuban, who has a net worth of about $6 billion, says the issue isn’t wealth itself but how it’s used.
“Compassion and capitalism—not greed—are what can make this country far greater,” he told Fortune.
“Multiple studies show that when everyone owns stocks, the results are better. Which matches my experiences with multiple companies.”
He also said that when CEOs have more liquid net worth, they have more power to make a difference: “The value of those dollars become much greater, to you, and so many others, when you use your business, or other expertise to help others.”
He Practices What He Preaches
Cuban has backed up his beliefs with action. He said that at Broadcast.com, 300 of the 330 employees became millionaires after the company was sold.
At MicroSolutions, he paid out 20% of the sale to 80 employees. When he sold a portion of the Dallas Mavericks, he distributed over $35 million to staff.
“In every business I’ve sold, I’ve paid out bonuses to every employee who’d been there for more than a year,” he posted.
He summed up his thinking on a 2020 episode of the This Is Working podcast:
“You’ll get more from your employees, and they will be more committed if you share equity immediately in a meaningful way, so that everybody rises.”
The Bigger Debate
Cuban’s proposal has sparked broader conversations online. Some people questioned whether capping CEO pay and shifting corporate priorities from shareholders to employees would be more effective.
One person asked, “Don’t you think that capping CEO salaries… while raising employee wages and changing laws to ensure the first duty is to employees… would, in fact, get more people more money?”
In another post, Cuban said he isn’t opposed to a windfall tax on individuals who make $1 billion in taxable income in a single year.
Cuban also pushed back on the idea that billionaires should not exist at all.
“Billionaires will exist as long as stock markets exist. Should we get rid of the stock market?” he asked.
He added that if someone founded a company that cured cancer and owned 25% of it, making them worth billions on paper but only paid themselves $50,000 a year and hadn’t cashed out, “What should happen?”
As wealth inequality continues to be a hot topic, Cuban is clearly trying to shape the conversation around fairness, ownership, and opportunity.
His message is simple: employees deserve a real stake in the success they help create.
IMAGE CREDIT: “Mark Cuban” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.