It’s a universally acknowledged fact that people love TV drama, especially if it involves money. While “Shark Tank” might not be the finances-related drama-inducing show we were used to seeing on our screens, that didn’t stop the reality show from becoming incredibly successful all around the world.
Featuring entrepreneurs from all business areas, and a ruthless panel of investors ready to break their dreams or take them to the next level, “Shark Tank” surely has everything needed to keep viewers tuning in season after season, without losing any interest.
While the business ideas and the interaction between the cast might be the show’s biggest attractive point, there’s no denying that many of us have wondered how rich the investors really, are and whether their life behind the screen is as fabulous as they lead us to imagine.
So, who are the richest in “Shark Tank”? Stay with us to know all!
Mark Cuban
The richest investor in “Shark Tank” is by far Mark Cuban. Debuting in the series as a guest in the second season, he eventually took a stable spot as an investor in the third one.
Mark is by far the richest cast member of “Shark Tank”, with an estimated net worth of $4.6 billion and according to Forbes, is the 227th richest person in the world in late-2022, This incredible fortune was amassed by decades-long successful investments in tech and healthcare companies. besides the acquisition of the Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise.
While Mark’s current success is impressive, especially considering his humble beginnings, the facts being that he used to sell garbage bags as a child, and later sold stamps to afford his college tuition, resulting in him enrolling at the University of Pittsburgh at only 16 years old.
Some of Mark’s most famous business moves have been making millions by selling his first company, MicroSolutions in the 1980s, then starting the website Broadcast.com in 1995, selling the company for billions a couple of years later. One of Mark’s most profitable deals in “Shark Tank” was acquiring a 20% share of Ten Thirty-One Productions, a Los Angeles-based horror attraction, which according to Mark, made around $500,000 in annual profits by 2014.
Kevin Harrington
While it’s been years since Kevin Harrington left his spot as an investor in “Shark Tank”, he hasn’t disappeared from the business world. With an estimated net worth of $440 million, Kevin Harrington is the second richest person to be a main investor.
Kevin’s fortune comes mostly from the infomercial industry, in which he debuted in the mid-1980s, and since then has launched hundreds of successful products, eventually investing in the retail market as well. His entrepreneurial knowledge led him to co-found the Electronic Retailers Association, and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, and to launch his 2009 book “Act Now: How I Turn Ideas into Million-Dollar Products”,.
In recent years, he’s also invested in the industry of Psyche Ceutical products and on blockchain, yet the general public still knows him best for his time in “Shark Tank”, in which he invested over $1 million distributed in 13 deals. The biggest of his investments in the show was acquiring a 25% share of the gourmet food A Perfect Pear in the first season.
Kevin O’Leary
Not far behind Kevin Harrington is Kevin O’Leary, the third richest investor of “Shark Tank” with an estimated net worth of $400 million. Besides appearing in the show since its debut in 2009, Kevin has also appeared in several other TV productions, such as “Project Earth”, “The Lang and O’Leary Exchange”, and the Canadian predecessor of “Shark Tank” entitled “Dragons’ Den”.
Also known as ‘Mr. Wonderful’, Kevin attributes his sixth-sense for business to his mother Georgette O’Leary, a Canadian merchant of Lebanese-descent. Despite originally wanting a photography career, life took Kevin to the business and entertainment world, having his beginnings as a TV producer before founding his first company – Special Event Television. He later sold his share to start a joint venture in the software developing field in the 1980s, since then putting his money into several tech-related companies, more recently in blockchain.
How to Automate Your Wealth? https://t.co/o9Lfnkq1at pic.twitter.com/2mYvgKhDts
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) February 29, 2020
Throughout the several years he’s been part of “Shark Tank”, Kevin has closed over 40 deals and invested over $8 million in total. His biggest investment in the show was buying a 10% share of Zipz, an environmentally-conscious stemware company featured in the show’s sixth season. Regarding his most profitable investments in the show, in late 2022 Kevin told CNBC: ‘75% of my returns have come from companies run by women’.
Daymond John
As one of the original “Shark Tank” investors, Daymond John holds $350 million net worth as a result from a successful career as an entrepreneur and investor. From Brooklyn, New York City, the humble beginnings of Daymond are greatly inspiring. At the early age of 10 and amidst his parents’ divorce, Daymond got his first job distributing flyers for barely $2 an hour.
Besides being inspired by his mother and stepfather, Daymond also attributes his entrepreneurial spirit to the work ethic he obtained as a teen, by enrolling in a full-time study program. After matriculating from high school, Daymond waited tables while selling T-shirts with social related messages: ‘when there’s an emotional slogan or an emotional connection, products sell quicker’, he told the Washington Post.
Daymond’s first big opportunity came at 20 years old, when he and a couple of friends started the hip-hop clothing line in Daymond’s basement, whose first product was $10 hats made by himself.
Over 30 years down the road, the brand now known as FUBU – an acronym ‘for us, by us’ – has grossed out around $6 billion in sales according to Forbes. Throughout his several seasons in “Shark Tank”, Daymond has invested over $8 million so far, making his biggest deal in the first season with the acquisition of half of the shares of Hells Bells Helmets.
Robert Herjavec
With an estimated net worth of $200 million, cyber security expert and businessman Robert Herjavec is certainly one of the kindest faces in “Shark Tank”. He has been in the show since its debut in 2009, though before that he had also appeared in the show’s Canadian predecessor “Dragons’ Den” from 2006 to 2012.
A native of (then) Yugoslavia, Robert moved to Canada at a very early age. Growing up in a very humble household, Robert took several enduring jobs growing up. According to an interview with Business News Daily, Robert never obtained a Master of Business Administration degree, and was admittedly not good at accounting and other money-related matters, saying: ‘I remember when I wanted to start a business; everybody said to me, ‘you can’t do it’.’ adding that the secret of his success lays in the fact that he loves what he does: ‘Give me a free afternoon and I’d rather go to work than race cars, play golf or do anything else’, he admitted.
Robert’s most profitable business is The Herjavec Group, which has closed over 50 deals in “Shark Tank”, the biggest being the acquisition of half of the shares of Zero Pollution Motors, an eco-friendly technology company featured in the show’s sixth season.
https://www.facebook.com/robertherjavec007/posts/pfbid0eBKHshgh6y5oSfyNJy6u61smrsoiANL8ZRY5Lhg3GHFixLc6UomSAQZVdDGkmNk2l
Lori Greiner
Besides having a keen eye for business, Lori Greiner is an inventor and long-time television personality. With an estimated net worth of $150 million, Lori is known for seeking deals which not only make money, but also solve problems, finding answers to people’s needs.
Long before debuting in the fourth season of “Shark Tank”, Lori founded her own company For Your Ease Only in 1996, with which she launched a jewelry organizer which gained her millions. From then on, Lori became an expert on finding solutions to problems through her products, eventually debuting on TV by introducing infomercial products to the audiences on several networks. Starting from 2000, she became one of the best known faces on the TV channel Quality Value Convenience (QVC), eventually gaining the title of “Queen Of QVC” for her charisma and skills as a saleswoman.
As said in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the fact that Lori’s products have generated over $1 billion in sales, allows her to invest her money in other people’s inventions, as seen in “Shark Tank”. Through her appearances in the show, Lori has invested over $9 million, having the acquisition of 95% of Legacy Shave for $700,000 as the biggest of her deals.
Barbara Corcoran
Besides being one of the original “Shark Tank”s investors, Barbara Corcoran has appeared in other TV shows, and is also known as one accomplished writer. Nonetheless, Barbara’s biggest success in business has been in the real estate market, with which she’s amassed a fortune of $100 million so far.
A native of New Jersey, Barbara’s beginnings were quite humble, due to her parents’ lack of job stability. Growing up, Barbara was apparently not very good in school, and matriculated with very low grades, as her dyslexia made learning difficult. Despite graduating with an Education degree in 1971, she eventually dropped her job as a teacher, being hired as a receptionist in a real estate firm. Along with her then boyfriend, Barbara obtained a $1,000 and started The Corcoran-Simonè firm, though she later exited the company to found The Corcoran Group and The Corcoran Report, her publishing firm.
Regarding her success in business, Barbara’s most powerful skills are creativity and imagination, as she told the podcast “How I Built This” in 2017. So far, Barbara has closed over $5 million in deals in “Shark Tank”, the biggest being her purchase of $350,000 in shares of the company Coverplay.
What About The Guests?
While “Shark Tank” main cast members have amassed huge fortunes in a variety of fields, guest investors who have appeared throughout the 13th seasons of the show also have an impressive net worth, a few Aof them well over the billion dollar mark. Here they some:
Richard Branson
By far the richest guest investor to appear in “Shark Tank”, the name Richard Branson surely rings a bell for everyone who knows at least a little bit about business. As the founder of the Virgin Group conglomerate, Richard Branson has an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion as of late-2022.
Richard appeared in “Shark Tank”s ninth and 10th seasons, though his short-lived participation in the show was slightly overshadowed by the time he threw a glass of water over fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who returned the favor right away. Thankfully they later apologized to each other backstage, though that’s not the only memorable thing about Richard’s appearances.
According to a blog post Richard wrote in 2020, the three companies he invested in through the show – Locker Board, Grypmat, and Sierra Madre Research – are doing great nowadays. Furthermore, Richard also said that he greatly enjoyed the experience of being a Shark: ‘it was brilliant sitting next to some of the quickest minds in the business, and listening to all the innovative pitches’, he wrote.
John Paul DeJoria
With $2.9 billion in net worth, John Paul DeJoria is by far the second richest guest investor in “Shark Tank”. John Paul is known for his incredible life story, moving from poverty to achieve billionaire status through hard work, and a keen eye for business.
Despite making only two appearances in the show through the fifth to the 10th seasons, it was enough to make a big investment of $150,000 for 20% of the agricultural development company Tree T Pee shares.
Daniel Lubetzky
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cakgn2rhdEO/
With appearances through the 11th to the 14th seasons, Daniel Lubetzky is a “Shark Tank” guest investor with more appearances in the show. His net worth of $2.1 billion speaks for itself though, and between his highly successful KIND snack company and several side-investments, Daniel also finds time to write, engage philanthropic work and appear on TV.
One of Daniel’s most well-known deals in the show was with the snack entrepreneurship Quevos, to which he offered $200,000 for 10% of the company’s shares in 2021. As reported by Food Business News, later that year Daniel added $1.35 million to the investment, and nowadays the company generates $2 million in annual revenue.
Tony Xu
Known for co-founding the successful DoorDash food delivery company, Tony Xu has an impressive net worth of $1.3 billion according to Forbes. Tony’s appearances in “Shark Tank” only extend to its 14th season, premiered in 2022, and didn’t result in any deal on air, though the possibility of being invited to future seasons is quite high.
All in all, “Shark Tank” isn’t short of millionaires and billionaires, and while some of them might have earned the audience’s approval more than others, that’s part of the show’s inherent charm, and one of the reasons for its success.
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