Occupy Democrats’ Post About Mark Cuban Selling Affordable Drugs Tops Facebook

Topline

News that billionaire Mark Cuban opened an online pharmacy for discount generic drugs appeared to be welcome news for left-wing activists, with a post sharing the news from the Occupy Democrats Facebook page making for the social media platform’s most popular U.S.-based link post this week, in a rare instance of a left-wing page beating out conservative counterparts on Facebook.

Mark Cuban visits “Heather B Live” with host Heather B. Gardner at SiriusXM Studios on February 25, … [+] 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

The post last Friday from Occupy Democrats, a popular left-wing page that says its mission is to merge the “goals and interests” of the last decade’s Occupy movement with the Democratic Party, linked to a story from Forbes about Cuban’s new venture.

By Friday afternoon, more than 233,000 Facebook users had reacted to the post, which was shared more than 38,000 times and had nearly 9,000 comments, according to data compiled by social media tracking firm NewsWhip.

Though the post took the top spot, the next eight most popular link posts over the past week were all from conservative news sources, including commentator Ben Shapiro, right-wing pastor Franklin Graham and conservative news outlets Breitbart and Fox News.

Surprising Fact

Last week, no link posts from left-leaning pages even cracked the top 10 most popular on Facebook.

Key Background

Cuban last week launched a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler called the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company, selling more than 100 drugs directly to patients at a fraction of the retail price. The company’s website lists a packet of potassium chloride, for instance, at $3.57, which it claims can go for nearly $1,000 at retail pharmacies. Cuban said the goal of the endeavor is to provide “safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices,” which include a 15% markup on manufacturer’s prices and a $3 pharmacist fee. Typical markups on generics are “at least” 100%, according to the company, though in some cases prices have been hiked more than 1,000%. It’s unknown how much Cuban has invested in the new company.

Big Number

$4.5 billion. That’s Cuban’s net worth, making him the 646th wealthiest person on Earth, according to Forbes‘ estimates.

Tangent

The Occupy Democrats page was created in September 2012, about a year after the start of the Occupy Wall Street protest, which sparked worldwide demonstrations demanding reduced wealth inequality. The Occupy movement took on the slogan “we are the 99%,” referring to the massive gap between the top 1% of income earners and the rest of society. The Facebook page is known for making frequent, and sometimes misleading, posts.

Occupy Democrats’ Post About Mark Cuban Selling Affordable Drugs Tops Facebook—A Rarity For Left-Wing Page