Daniel Lubetzky, who founded the Kind Healthy Snacks company in 2004 before selling it to Mars in a deal worth $5 billion, will be an investor on the hit show “Shark Tank” when its next season premieres in October—the first new regular cast member to join the show in over a decade as fellow billionaire Mark Cuban exits.
Key Facts
- Lubetzky, who has a net worth of $2.3 billion as of Wednesday, will step into a slot on the panel of regular investors that also includes Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary (Cuban announced his departure last year and will leave after Season 16).
- He has been a “guest shark” on the show before, but the series hasn’t added a regular investor to the panel since Greiner began being credited as such in the fourth season, which ran from September 2012 to May 2013.
- So far, Lubetzky’s investments on “Shark Tank” have included Yellow Leaf Hammocks, snack company Quevos, boogie board creator Tandm Inc. and HummViewer, a wearable hummingbird feeder.
- Lubetzky founded Kind, known primarily for its fruit and nut bars, in 2004, sold a minority stake to Mars in 2017 and sold the entire company to the candy giant in 2020 at a reported $5 billion valuation.
- The company is known for pitching itself as conscious of both health and social issues, though a 2019 Forbes story noted its charitable donations were fairly small and some nutritionists believe its offerings aren’t especially healthy (the company argued its bars are nutritious, and said it directed $20 million in cash and products to charities, with Lubetzky contributing $10 million).
- Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, described Lubetzky to Forbes as “a brilliant marketer.”
Key Background
Lubetzky was born in Mexico city in 1968 to Sonia and Roman Lubetzky, a Holocaust survivor. Lubetzky has shared his father’s story on “Shark Tank” as an example of perseverance. He went to Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and majored in economics and international relations before attending law school at Stanford University. He founded marketing, consulting and distribution company PeaceWorks in 1994 and brought international food items like Sri Lankan coconut milk and Israeli chocolate to be marketed and sold in the United States. The company still exists, but Lubetzky isn’t involved in its management. He founded Kind a decade later and its products are now sold in tens of thousands of stores including at Starbucks, Walmart and beyond. He has been married to Michelle Lynn Lieberman since 2008 and has four children.
Tangent
Shark Tank first premiered on ABC in 2009 and has run for 15 seasons. The series brings budding entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses, in various stages of development, to a panel of venture capitalists. Those investors can then pass or make an offer—usually cash for equity—to help the business grow, and can compete with each other on screen for the most appealing offer. The show has featured businesses that don’t garner investor interest or flop after appearing, but has also helped to launch several ultra-successful products, including Dude Wipes, Scrub Daddy sponges, Bombas socks, and Everlywell at-home health testing kits. Behind the scenes, some of the show’s on-air handshake deals are renegotiated or called off entirely after the investors—who go into each pitch with virtually no information—vet the startups, Forbes reported last year. Even though Lubetzky is filling the slot left vacant by Cuban, “Shark Tank” executive director Clay Newbill told the New York Times it is not a one-for-one swap: “Personally, I don’t think that you can replace Mark Cuban.”
Big Number
$1.3 billion. That’s how much Bombas socks had done in retail sales between its 2014 “Shark Tank” appearances and May of 2023, USA Today reported, citing Sony Pictures Television.
What To Watch For
Season 16 of “Shark Tank” will premiere Friday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. Guest sharks slated to appear are Raising Cane’s billionaire Todd Graves, It Cosmetics co-founder Jamie Kern Lima, venture capitalist Rashaun Williams and jewelry designer Kendra Scott.
Forbes Valuation
Cuban, the first ever billionaire investor on “Shark Tank,” was ranked as the 555th richest person in the world Wednesday with a net worth of $5.7 billion. He said he was stepping down from the show to spend more time with family and to focus on Cost Plus Drugs, a company he launched in January 2022 with the aim of lowering prescription drug prices. Lubetzky was ranked No. 1,445 on Forbes’ list of real-time billionaires Wednesday. He still has an unknown financial stake in Kind and runs startup incubator Camino Partners. Graves, who will appear on the show in its upcoming season, is the world’s 271st-richest person with an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion.
This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
