'The janitor to the CEO deserves…': Mark Cuban finds the answer to income inequality
Mark Cuban advocates for employee ownership as a means to reduce income inequality, suggesting all workers, from janitors to CEOs, should receive company equity. He proposes tax incentives to encourage this practice, emp
Noting that employee ownership should become standard practice, billionaire investor Mark Cuban said that sharing company equity with every worker—not just executives—could help reduce income inequality.
“The janitor to the CEO deserves a stake in the company they work for,” Mark Cuban said, speaking on the “What It Takes” podcast hosted by Sarah McCammon and released last week, adding, “I would like to see it so that every single CEO, founder, entrepreneur does what I did, which was to give equity to every single employee.”
“The way you’re going to reduce income inequality for anybody who works with somebody is making sure they get shares of stock, and then they benefit.”
Cuban made his fortune by co-founding Broadcast.com, one of the earliest internet streaming companies, which Yahoo acquired in 1999 for $4.8 billion. He, however, became known for sharing the rewards with the people who helped build the business. He has often said that employees should benefit alongside founders when a company succeeds. Staying true to that belief, Cuban gave stock to 330 Broadcast.com employees before Yahoo bought the company. When the deal closed, around 300 of them became millionaires overnight.
Tax incentives can make stake distributions a norm
While acknowledging that sharing equity with employees was his personal choice, Cuban said the government could encourage more companies to do the same by offering tax incentives.
“You can give them incentives to say, ‘Look, if you want that 21% tax rate, then you need to give every single employee the same percentage in stock warrants, options, whatever it may be, of their cash compensation that you give to the CEO,’” Cuban said.
Cuban illustrated the idea with a simple example.
“So if the CEO gets $100,000 worth of stock because they make $1 million in cash, and the janitor makes $50,000, then they deserve, you know, the same percentage in stock, and that will change the game,” he said.
Miss that threshold, Cuban added, and “your taxes go back up.”
This isn’t the first time Cuban has made remarks regarding a more equitable distribution of wealth. He had long backed raising the U.S. federal minimum wage to $20 an hour, recalling instances in which a company he invested in, but didn’t run or name, had employees in need of government assistance.
“I made sure they all got raises,” Cuban wrote in an X post. “It was embarrassing to me that we didn’t pay enough. I’ve made, or helped make, at least a thousand millionaires. And I’ll keep working to increase that number.”
Elon Musk also advocated for employee ownership
Earlier this month, Elon Musk also advocated for employee ownership, arguing that the strategy aligns company incentives. A little more than a month later, SpaceX’s IPO has already minted at least 4,400 millionaires.
“I’ve always had the philosophy that everyone at the company should receive stock in the company, so that they can participate in the upside of the company,” Musk told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
About the Author
Sanchari Ghosh
Sanchari Ghosh is an Assistant Editor at Mint with over 12 years of experience in journalism, specialising in personal finance, DLT & DeFi, geopolitics and foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on how these areas intersect.
She writes extensively about how money works in everyday life—helping readers navigate personal finance decisions.
As AI reshapes investing behaviour, capital is increasingly flowing into decentralized ecosystems, redefining how assets are managed, traded, and valued. She focuses on explaining how money flows within frameworks like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), DeFi protocols, and crypto markets—while also exploring what the future of money could look like in a trustless, programmable financial world.
She also focuses on immigration-related issues, simplifying complex topics around visas, passports, overseas financial planning, and the many practical challenges Indians face while moving or living abroad.
Alongside personal finance, Sanchari has a strong understanding of international politics, contemporary and historical conflicts, and global state decisions. She closely tracks how geopolitical developments influence economies, markets, and individual financial choices, bringing together finance and global affairs in her reporting.
She began her career as a desk editor, which gave her a strong foundation in news writing. Over time, her interest naturally shifted toward personal finance. Before joining Mint in 2020, she worked DNA, The Times of India, Outlook Money, BloombergQuint, and ETMoney. At Mint, she got an opportunity to expand her coverage to include immigration and geopolitical developments while continuing to closely follow personal finance trends and market movements.As a journalist, she is committed to accuracy, intellectual rigour, and fairness.
She is an English Major and her work took her across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Living independently from an early age gave her firsthand experience in managing life and money on her own. This practical exposure sparked her strong interest in personal finance.
Outside the newsroom, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast who regularly plays lawn tennis and squash. In her younger years, she was also a national-level badminton player.
Source: Livemint — Companies
