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At WIRED’s “The Big Interview” event earlier this month, Cost Plus Drugs founder and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban was asked why he doesn’t make more profit at his low-price drug company.
“You’re pretty clear that you are not doing this for altruistic reasons — you’re running a business,” noted the event moderator.
“Well, I could make more money,” Cuban said, to laughs in the crowd. “We’re a public benefit corporation. But how much f—ing money do I need?”
“I’m not trying to go to Mars,” he added, with an obvious dig at his billionaire rival Elon Musk.
Related: Mark Cuban’s Startup Is Sending Its First Batch of Essential Meds to Hospitals Facing Shortages
What Is Cost Plus Drugs?
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. is an online pharmacy co-founded by Cuban and radiologist Alex Oshmyansky to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry and lower drug costs. It launched in January 2022 and offers more than 2,300 prescription medications and delivery.
How Does Cost Plus Drugs Price Its Medications?
On the company website, Cuban outlines how the price structure works: Cost Plus marks the base price up by 15%, and then adds on the actual cost that the pharmacy charges them to prepare the medication.
So a drug like Albendazole, for example, which treats ringworm and costs around $113 elsewhere, according to Drugs.com, is $35, as per the letter. (Cuban wrote that the company paid $26.08.)
“Many people are spending crazy amounts of money each month just to stay healthy,” Cuban wrote. “No American should have to suffer or worse – because they can’t afford basic prescription medications.”
Related: How Mark Cuban Forced the Biggest U.S. Pharmacy to Upend Its Business
What Is a Public Benefit Corporation?
A benefit corporation—also known as a B Corporation—has shareholders who own the company, unlike a non-profit. So making money is the point, just not the whole point.
While non-profits (or not-for-profits) serve a public benefit and don’t make any profits, benefit corporations want to make money while still serving a greater purpose than itself “and a desire for the corporation to help make the world a better place,” according to Rick Bell of Harvard Business Services.
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