Mark Cuban Announces His Plan to Exit Shark Tank After Season 16: 'It's Time'

Mark Cuban believes his time on Shark Tank is coming to end.

The billionaire businessman, 65, revealed that he will not be returning to the ABC series after season 16.

"This is our 15th year, and next year, our 16th year, is gonna be my last year," he shared on the All the Smoke podcast. "So I got one more year to go."

He told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he feels “it’s time” to leave the series after first appearing as a guest in season 2 and joining full-time in the third season. 

Though Cuban insisted season 16 would be his last, his departure has not yet been confirmed by the network.

The television personality shared that he is grateful for the impact of the series, explaining, “I love it because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well.”

“I feel like in doing Shark Tank all these years, we’ve trained multiple generations of entrepreneurs that if somebody can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on the carpet of Shark Tank and show their business and get a deal, it’s going to inspire generations of kids,” he continued. “That’s what happens, right? Now we’ve got people coming on saying I watched you when I was 10 years old. I’m like, f—. But we’re helping them right? I’ve invested in, I don’t know how many hundreds of companies.”

Cuban also reflected on his takeaways as a Shark on the long-time series, explaining, "The harder they have to try to sell, the worse the deal.”

“The longer the backstory, the worse the deal. Meaning, the minute you start telling me how hard it was for you? It's hard for every motherf—ing entrepreneur,” he added. “I don't need to hear your backstory. Tell me about your business, tell me why you are going to be successful. Tell me what's different about it. Tell me how you stand out."

He concluded, "I look for ideas [where I'm] like, 'Damn, why didn't I think of that?'" 

This is not the first time that Cuban has spoken about the possibility of leaving Shark Tank.

"I committed to come back for season 15 next year," the Shark investor told PEOPLE last year. "But after that, you know, I don't know yet."

"And it's not cause I don't love the show. I absolutely love the show," the Mavericks owner continued. "I love what it represents. I love that kids watch it. And now we have entrepreneurs coming on that started watching when they were 12, 13, 14 years old."

Cuban admitted that spending time with his family, including daughters Alyssa and Alexis and son Jake, trumps all other obligations. 

"My daughter's in college now ... when they were all in high school, all their schedules aligned. And so it was really easy to do the show," he explained at the time. "But now, you know, family first, always. And so I wanted to try to make sure I spent as much time with my daughter as I can, and my family as I can."

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Shark Tank airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.