September 12, 2023
Micheal Rubin has a keen eye for good business deals. The Lafayette Hill native and CEO of Fanatics has made billions of dollars leading one of the world's largest sports merchandise companies.
Rubin, who was once a co-owner of the Sixers, will use his business acumen on television as a guest shark on the business-reality show "Shark Tank," he announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
"Pumped to be a guest on season 15 of @ABCSharkTank!!" he posted with a picture of sharks Kevin O'Leary, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner.
Pumped to be a guest shark on Season 15 of @ABCSharkTank !! pic.twitter.com/JCPHGpKTCb
— Michael Rubin (@michaelrubin) September 12, 2023
The premise of "Shark Tank" is for upstart ventures that need financial backing to pitch their products and services to successful and wealthy business tycoons. Sharks and guest sharks can buy shares of featured companies if they see fit.
Retail sales of $8 billion have been earned from deals made on the show, Deadline reported.
Rubin, who sold his stake in the Sixers' ownership in 2022, has made several investments to boost his business profile in the last year and a half.
In February 2022, Rubin headed a group that included rappers Meek Mill, Jay-Z and Lil Baby, businessman Maverick Carter and the D'Amelio family of social media influencers to purchase Mitchell & Ness, the Philly throwback sports apparel company, for $250 million.
In May, Rubin's Fanatics announced a $150 million deal to purchase the U.S. division of Australia's PointsBet, which gave Fanatics access to sports betting markets in at least 15 states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Michigan.
Other guests in the show's new season include pastry chef and founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes Candace Nelson, film and TV producer Jason Blum, fashion designer and founding partner of SKIMS and Good American Emma Grede and founder of Kind Snacks Daniel Lubetzky.
The new "Shark Tank" season premieres on Friday, Sept. 29 on ABC and can be streamed on Hulu.
