Mark Cuban moved company from Texas to California? No, that started as satire | Fact check
The claim: Mark Cuban moved company from Texas to California
A Jan. 12 Threads post (direct link, archive link) shows images of billionaire Mark Cuban and a building rendering that bears the name of his prescription drug company.
“Mark Cuban Shifts Company From Texas To California: ‘Can’t Operate In Red States,’” reads the post’s caption and the text in the image.
The Threads post was reposted more than 150 times in five days.
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Our rating: False
The claim originated on a satirical website. Cuban’s drug company remains headquartered in Dallas, and there is no credible evidence he moved any of his companies from Texas to California.
Claim originated on satirical Facebook account
The claim touches on the trend of billionaires shifting companies across state lines based on their political climates. Elon Musk announced plans to move the headquarters of his SpaceX and X companies to Texas over objections to a California law that bans the forced outing of LGBTQ+ students. Then, citing concerns about “bias," Meta Platforms in January said it would move its key content policy team from California to Texas.
Cuban has not, however, gone in the opposite direction by relocating any of his Texas-based companies to California.
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While the post does not specify which of Cuban’s businesses it references, the image shows a rendering of the exterior of a Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company facility. The discount pharmaceutical company lists its address as 320 South Walton Street in Dallas. Its website details the 22,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Dallas that opened in 2023 and makes no mention of any planned or completed relocation. It also lists Dallas as its location on its LinkedIn page. There have been no announcements and no credible evidence related to such a move for any other companies owned by Cuban, the former majority owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.
The claim originated from a Dec. 22, 2024, Facebook post by SpaceX Fanclub, which is part of the SpaceXMania network of satirical accounts. That account states in its bio that “nothing on this page is real.” The wording of the Threads post matches the Facebook post, which is labeled as satire.
Linked in the comments to the Threads post is a longer article posted to a disreputable website that includes an image shared Dec. 22, 2024, by The Patriots Network – another account in SpaceXMania's network – with a watermark identifying the claim as a fabrication. The article also resembles one published Dec. 17, 2024, by Esspots that also contains a satire label.
Cuban supported Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in the 2024 presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump. His victories in the seven battleground states turned wide swaths of the country “red.” The term "red state" typically refers to states that have backed Republican candidates, either traditionally or in the most recent election.
The Threads post is an example of what could be called “stolen satire,” in which content originally written and presented as parody is captured and reposted in a way that makes it appear authentic. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here.
Paste BN reached out to a Cost Plus Drugs spokesperson and to the Threads user who shared the claim but did not immediately receive any responses.
Lead Stories, PolitiFact and Check Your Fact debunked versions of the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, accessed Jan. 16, Home page
- Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC, accessed Jan. 16, LinkedIn profile
- Spacex Fanclub, Dec. 22, 2024, Facebook post
- Spacex Fanclub, accessed Jan. 16, Facebook profile
- Esspots, Dec. 17, 2024, Mark Cuban Moves His Company from Texas to California: “I Can’t Breathe in Red States”
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