Billionaire Mark Cuban Tells Elon Musk to “F’ Around and Find Out” with New Startup Offer…

Mark Cuban just told Elon Musk and the Trump administration: "You break it, you buy it." In what seems like a wild twist in chaos management, billionaire Mark Cuban stepped into the federal tech layoff havoc over the weekend with a massive mic drop moment. After Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) helped gut the government's digital services team, Cuban slid into the Bluesky DMs of these newly unemployed tech workers with a surprisingly generous offer: he's ready to bankroll their next chapter.

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, early Saturday morning, around the time most people were either asleep or regretting their life choices, about 70 federal tech workers from the General Services Administration's innovative 18F team found out they'd been laid off. Why? Apparently, building secure, user-friendly tech solutions like Login.gov (a service used for Social Security, Veterans Affairs, and Medicare) just isn't efficient enough for DOGE’s liking.

Cuban saw this, and promptly said “Hold my beer” as he quickly jumped on Bluesky to tell the displaced techies exactly how to stick it to The Man: "If you worked for 18F and got fired, group together to start a consulting company. It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably created. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help." Translation: Cuban’s basically daring Musk’s DOGE department to break government tech—and then pay the same people they just fired to fix it. Genius.

(Source: Tech Crunch) 

Now real quick, for those out of the loop here, 18F was the elite tech unit within the GSA that specialized in building efficient, user-friendly digital services across federal agencies. Their work helped make government tech actually usable (shocker, I know). But under Musk’s DOGE initiative—a Trump administration directive to streamline the federal workforce and slash spending—18F has become collateral damage.

With that said though, this isn’t DOGE’s first time pulling the plug on 18F, either. Two dozen workers were quietly let go in February, and the latest midnight layoffs came complete with a passive-aggressive email from DOGE titled, "What did you do last week? Part II." 

(Source: Giphy) 

Which means, Cuban's proposal is both a lifeline to the laid-off 18F staff and a potentially brilliant business move. By backing a startup consulting firm built from these former federal tech workers, Cuban sees a chance to flip the script on Musk and DOGE. For this reason, Bluesky users wasted no time chiming in with branding suggestions for this hypothetical company. One user suggested naming the startup "18FU"—a not-so-subtle nod to their former employer.

Meanwhile, Cuban’s offer has sparked intense debate online. Some see it as a smart way for fired civil servants to reclaim their power and expertise. Others question the ethics of selling back services to the administration that kicked them to the curb. But love it or hate it, Cuban’s petty pitch raises a fascinating question: could the federal government's own ruthless cost-slashing strategy actually spawn the very private-sector competition it fears most?

(Source: Benzinga) 

The irony here is thick enough to spread on a friggin’ biscuit. DOGE’s relentless push to downsize the federal workforce might inadvertently create a private sector powerhouse that the government eventually has no choice but to hire (at premium rates, no doubt). But if these displaced workers band together as Cuban suggests, the Trump-Musk vision of shrinking government may backfire spectacularly, forcing the administration to rely on a private firm built from the ashes of its own layoffs.

Bottom line is, Cuban just threw hands, as he’s basically telling Trump and Elon to “F’ around and find out”. Because by offering to bankroll the fired 18F team, Cuban isn't just trolling Musk and Trump—he's laying out a blueprint for disrupted federal workers everywhere. His message is clear: if the government doesn't appreciate your value, build something better yourself—and make them pay for it later.

(Source: Giphy) 

In the end, check make or not, time will tell how this plays out. But for now, Cuban just gave 70 unemployed federal tech workers a compelling reason to wake up Monday morning and say, "Challenge accepted.” In the meantime, keep an eye on this story (if nothing else, just for the entertainment). As always, stay safe and stay frosty, friends! Until next time…

P.S. My buddy Jared is sharp as hell—probably one of the smartest guys I know. But when it comes to investing? An absolute clown. Why? Because he doesn’t grasp the one thing that separates winners from losers in the market: information. And not just any information—I’m talking about the kind of intel that Wall Street hoards like the FBI hoards Hunter Biden's laptop—because the second retail traders get their hands on it, their edge starts to disappear.

Moral of the story here? Don’t be a Jared. Get access to the real market-moving data, the stuff hidden behind paywalls and institutional gatekeeping by joining Stocks.News premium. At the end of the day, the market isn’t playing fair—so why should you? 

Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.