Mark Cuban Sells Facebook Stake, Says 'it Was Gambling Money'

Mark Cuban's foray into Facebook didn't last long.

The billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner sold his stake in the social network, less than a month after initially disclosing he had built a position in the company following its bungled initial public offering.

"I took my hit, my thesis was wrong," Cuban said in a CNBC interview. "I thought we'd get a quick bounce just with some excitement about the stock. I was wrong, and when you're wrong you don't wait, you just get out. I took a beating and left."

Late last month, Cuban disclosed on his blog that he had snatched up 150,000 shares of Facebook in three separate purchases. He said he bought 50,000 shares at $33, another 50,000 at $31.97 and 50,000 at $32.50. All three investments are currently underwater. Facebook today is up 4.2 percent at $31.26, but still down about 18 percent from its $38 IPO price.

At the time, Cuban described the move as "a trade, not an investment" and compared it to trading baseball cards.

"It was gambling money, to be honest with you," he said on Monday. "Any time you try to time the market, you get what you deserve. Sometimes you're right. Sometimes you're wrong. This time I was wrong."

Facebook's trading debut last month was marred by technical glitches on the Nasdaq Stock Market, which left many investors confused over whether their orders to buy and sell shares had been fulfilled. The stock's steep decline over its first month of trading left it as the worst-performing IPO of $1 billion or more for a US-based company, according to Dealogic.