It’s the end of an era for Shark Tank: on Friday, Mark Cuban’s final episode airs, and the long-standing celebrity investor will finally bid the hit show adieu.

After 14 years as super shark, Mark Cuban swims away from ABC's "Shark Tank" with a final episode May 16. Why the maverick says he's leaving.

I first met Mark Cuban on a red carpet for a movie premiere I was covering as a young entertainment host. At the time, Mark was already a recognizable figure — not just for selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo during the dot-com boom,