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'Mark Cuban' (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American billionaire entrepreneur.The Dot-Com Billionaire: Mark Cuban He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA franchise;NBA biography and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network.[1]
Early life
Mark Cuban grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Pittsburgh in a Jewish working class family; his father was an automobile upholsterer.[2][3] Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags in order to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes.Time Magazine: A Bigger Screen for Mark Cuban, April 22, 2002The Maverick While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartending, disco dancing instructor, and party promotion. He earned his way to college by collecting and selling stamps, and once gained about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.
Rather than attending high school for his senior year, Cuban enrolled as a full time student at the University of Pittsburgh, becoming a member of Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University's Bloomington, Indiana campus and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. He lived in the Foster Quad dorm at Indiana. He played rugby while at Indiana, taking up the position of number 8.
Bartender to dot-com billionaire
In 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas. Cuban first found work as a bartender,[4]Blog Maverick: Success and Motivation, You only have to be right once! then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the first PC software retailers in Dallas. He was terminated less than a year later for not opening the store on time while out making a sales call finalizing a large software purchase with a customer.
Cuban started a company, MicroSolutions, with support from his previous customers from Your Business Software. MicroSolutions was initially a system integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe.[5] One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems.[6] In 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to Compuserve—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million.[7] He netted approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.[8]
In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alum Todd Wagner started Audionet, combining their mutual interest in college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and ISDN line,[9] Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and annual revenues near $100 million.[10] During the Dot-com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo!, and Cuban received $5.9 billion in Yahoo! stock.[11]
Billionaire entrepreneur
After the sale, Cuban diversified his wealth to avoid exposure to a market crash.[12] As of 2007, Cuban is #407 on Forbes' "World's Richest People" list, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. The ''Guinness Book of Records'' credits Cuban with the "largest single e-commerce transaction," $40 million for his Gulfstream V jet in October 1999.[13]
Cuban continues to work with Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.[14] On September 24 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters.[15] The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show ''Star Search'', which was broadcast on CBS.2929 Productions at IMDb 2929 Entertainment released ''Bubble'', a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, in theaters and on DVD on the same day in January 2006 as a simultaneous release.
Cuban was featured on the cover of the November 2003 premiere issue of ''Best'' magazine,[16] announcing the arrival of High Definition Television. Cuban also was co-founder (with Philip Garvin) of HDNet, the first high-definition satellite television network.[17]
In February 2004, Cuban announced that he would be working with ABC television to produce a reality television series called ''The Benefactor''. The premise of the six-episode series involved 16 contestants vying to win $1 million by participating in various contests, with their performances being judged by Cuban. It premiered on September 13, 2004 but, due to poor ratings, was cancelled before the full season aired.[18]
Cuban financially supported Grokster in the Supreme Court case, ''MGM v. Grokster''.[19]
He is also a partner in Synergy Sports Technology, a web based basketball scouting and video delivery tool, used by many NBA teams.
Recently, Cuban has spearheaded ventures in the social software and distributed networking industries. He's an owner of IceRocket, a search engine which scours the blogosphere for content.[20] Cuban is also a partner in RedSwoosh[21] — a company which uses peer-to-peer technology to deliver rich media, including video and software to a user's PC. He was also an investor in Weblogs, Inc. which was acquired by AOL.[22]
In 2005, Cuban invested in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup making a high-tech toilet seat called a Swash that works like a bidet but mounts on a standard toilet. "People tend to approach technology the same way," Cuban joked, "whether it's in front of them, or behind them."[23] He also invested in Goowy Media Inc., a San Diego an internet software startup.
In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, Mark Cuban's ''Radio Maverick''.[24] However, the show has not materialized.
In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.com,[25] a web site created by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporter Christopher Carey to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicly traded companies. Experimenting with a new business model for making online journalism financially viable, Cuban disclosed he would take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth.com in advance of publication. Business and legal analysts questioned the appropriateness of shorting a stock prior to making public pronouncements which are likely to result in losses in that stock's value. Cuban insisted that the practice is legal in view of full disclosure.[26][27][28]
Dallas Mavericks
Ownership
On January 14, 2000, Cuban purchased a majority stake in the NBA Dallas Mavericks basketball team for $285 million from H. Ross Perot, Jr.[29][30]
In the 20 years before Cuban bought the team, the Mavs had a winning percentage of 40%, and playoff record of 21-32. The team had never advanced beyond early rounds in the playoffs.Dallas Mavericks 1980- [31] In the six years following, the team has won 69% of their regular season games and have reached the playoffs each season. The Mavs playoff record with Cuban is 39 wins and 40 losses, including their first trip to the NBA Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Miami Heat.[32]
Historically, NBA team owners publicly play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes; Cuban sits alongside fans while donning team jerseys. Cuban flies his private airplane, a Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream V to attend away games. His ownership has been described by the media as the ultimate fan fantasy successfully coming true.[33]
NBA policy maverick
Cuban's ownership has been the source of extensive media attention and controversy involving league policies.[34]
Cuban has been fined by the NBA, mostly for critical statements about the league and referees, at least $1,665,000 for 13 incidents.[35] In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban,[36]
In an interview with the Associated Press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts.[37] In a nationally publicized incident, he criticized the league's manager of officials, Ed T. Rush, saying that he, "wouldn't be able to manage a Dairy Queen." When Dairy Queen management took offense, Cuban worked for a day at a Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas, where fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard from the owner of the Mavericks.[38]
During the 2005-06 NBA season, Cuban started a booing campaign when former Maverick player Michael Finley returned to play against the Mavs as a member of the San Antonio Spurs.[39] In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen.[40] and was fined $200,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and criticizing NBA officials.[41]. After the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBA for repeated misconduct following the Mavericks' loss to the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2006 NBA Finals.
In February 2007, Cuban publicly criticized NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, and declared that he would get fined if he made any comments about what he thought really happened in the 2006 NBA Finals.[42] [43]
Other sports businesses
In 2005, Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins[44]. In 2006, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Cuban had joined an investment group with Dan Marino, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to acquire the Pittsburgh Penguins.[45].
At World Wrestling Entertainment's ''2003 Survivor Series'', Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with RAW GM Eric Bischoff and RAW Superstar Randy Orton.[46]
Cuban has also expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball team, such as the Pittsburgh Pirates[47] or the Chicago Cubs[48] It was announced in April 2007 that the Cubs will go on sale once the Chicago Tribune's sale to Sam Zell is finalized, but Cuban refused to speculate on purchasing the club when it was not officially on the market. [49] On July 12, 2007, Cuban sent in an application to MLB to purchase the Chicago Cubs, which along with Wrigley Field and the Cubs Television Contract could go as high as $1 billion. [50]
In May 2007, a possible new American football league called the UFL being set up by Wall Street businessman Bill Hambrecht was announced, including possible team ownership of a Las Vegas franchise by Cuban. [51]
[52]
On September 3, 2007 Cuban was cited as having interest in obtaining the services of Fedor Emelianenko, mixed martial art's reigning Pride Heavyweight champion. Citation Sherdog.com
Dancing with the Stars
Premiering September 24th at 8pm, Cuban will be one of the 12 contestants on the ABC Show
Dancing with the Stars [53] Kym Johnson, returning for her 3rd season, will be Cuban's partner [53]
Family and personal interests
In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart, an advertising executive, in a private ceremony in Barbados.[55] The couple had their first child in September 2004. The family also has a cat, Meshugana. In June 2007, Cuban underwent hip replacement surgery.
Cuban is an admirer of Objectivist philosophy and author/philosopher Ayn Rand: [56] "''The Fountainhead'' was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it."[57]
His political views lean towards libertarianism, [58] however, he holds a position on a centrist Unity08 political organization's advisory council.[59]
Cuban started the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military persons killed or injured during the Iraq War, personally matching the first $1 million in contributions with funds from the Mark Cuban Foundation.[60]
Film and television appearances
Acting roles
★ Breaking the F-ing Rules (2007 film) as "Seamus"
★ All In (2006 film) as himself
★ Like Mike 2: Streetball (2006 film) as "Drop Squad Coach"
★ "Walker, Texas Ranger" (TV Series, 2000) as "Mark Smith"
★ Lost at Sea (1995 film) as "Villain"
★ Talking About Sex (1994 film) as "Macho Mark"
★ "The Loop" (TV Series, 2007) as himself
As himself
★ The Benefactor" (2004), a TV Series starring Cuban.
★ Cuban has also made many appearances as himself in movies and various television shows.[61]
See also
★ Broadcast.com
★ Dallas Mavericks
References
1. HDnet Press Release December 16, 2003
2. Cuban a unique NBA owner
3. Mark Cuban: Pittsburgh's Dream Owner John Strubel
4. Blog Maverick: Success and Motivation, Part 1
5. VAR Business - Mark Cuban: A Success Story You Can Relate To
6. BlogMaverick: A little bit of history….Lotus Notes
7. Losing's not an option for Cuban.
8. A 'must read' by Maverick owner Mark Cuban
9. Q&A With Mark Cuban
10. Gale Group Newsletter Database
11. Yahoo completes Broadcast.com acquisition
12. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/63/fasttalk.html
13. Guiness World Records
14. Holdings
15. Mark Cuban buys Landmark
16. Best Stuff and Primedia Launch Best
17. HDNet, Only All-High Definition National Television Network, Launches on DIRECTV
18. The Benefactor
19. Mark Cuban to Finance Grokster's Fight
20. Mark Cuban to relaunch IceRocket
21. RedSwoosh latest video file-sharing entrant, to raise M+
22. AOL Acquires Weblogs, Inc.
23. Clean living
24. Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban to Host Talk Show Exclusively On SIRIUS Satellite Radio
25. Mark Cuban Invests In New Investigative Journalism Site
26. Cuban's made his agenda crystal clear
27. And it looked so good
28. Money is Good
29. Cuban, unembargoed
30. NBA press release
31. Sports Network
32. http://www.nba.com/finals2006/
33. All fun and games for Cuban
34. The NBA's True Maverick
35. ABCnews: Cuban Slammed with 0,000 Fine
36. Dirk to Cuban: Chill out Eddie Sefko
37. Cuban fined 0,000 for tirade, The Associated Press, June 21, 2006
38. Mavs owner serves smiles and ice cream
39. Finley's 'act' turns off Cuban
40. Spurs' Bowen adds to Dallas' frustration
41. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-mavericks-cubanfined&prov=ap&type=lgns
42. "Nowitzki won't comment on Wade's criticism"
43. http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/06/22/i-know-you-are-but-what-am-i/
44. Cuban, Marino to buy Pens?
45. Cuban, Marino join N.Y. group in bid for the Penguins
46. Superstars upset over Mark Cuban segment, SD treated differently, more
47. Cuban interested if Pirates for sale
48. Pitiful Cubs could use a maverick owner
49. Cuban says he won't speculate on Cubs sale
50. "Mark Cuban Applies to Buy Chicago Cubs", AP, July 13, 2007
51. Report: New football league on the way
52. First and Long — Very Long
53. http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/
54. http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/
55. Dime Magazine
56. Mark Cuban's Crush On Ayn Rand
57. My First Literary Crush
58. Mark Cuban - Libertarian
59. Advisory Council | Unity08
60. Fallen Patriot Fund
61. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1171860/
External links
★ Mark Cuban's personal weblog
★ Beyond the Glory Biography of Mark Cuban
★ Mark Cuban Interview with Gelf Magazine
★
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