Mark Cuban: Tesla's Elon Musk is like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban on Monday defended Elon Musk 's recent tweets about possibly taking Tesla (TSLA) private, saying "When you invest in an entrepreneur, you get the personality."
"Elon is quite the entrepreneur," Cuban told CNBC in a " Fast Money Halftime Report " interview. "How can you expect anything different?"
"If you don't think it's right, buy another stock," Cuban said.
Cuban, a "Shark Tank" host and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, likened Musk to the CEOs of other large-cap tech companies, including late Apple (AAPL) chief Steve Jobs.
"Everyone complained at one point or another about Steve. He got fired," Cuban said. "You look at Amazon (AMZN). Everybody complained about Jeff [Bezos]. 'He's not trying to make any money. He's not giving guidance. He's not doing this, he's not doing that."
Earlier Monday, Musk attempted to clear up questions about his tweets last week to possibly take Tesla private. In a blog post, he said his claim that he had secured the necessary funding was based on repeated and ongoing conversations with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund
Tesla and Musk have been sued by investors who claim that the company and Musk fraudulently schemed to squeeze short sellers.
Cuban said Monday that he doesn't own any shares of Tesla, but owns two of the carmaker's vehicles. He said Musk's "uniqueness" has made Tesla so successful and investors shouldn't be fixated on short sellers.
Short selling is a practice in which traders can bet against a company by selling shares they don't own and buying them back at a lower price.
"This is a guy who is sleeping in the factory. This is a guy who is pushing, pushing, pushing," Cuban said, adding investors "should be grateful" that Musk is "so committed" to the company.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
