Mark Cuban

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Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)^[1] is an American billionaire entrepreneur.^[2] He is owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA franchise;^[3] and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network.^[4]

Contents 1 Early life 1.1 Education 2 Road to becoming a billionaire 3 Sports franchise ownership 3.1 Mavericks ownership change 3.2 Other sports franchises 4 Family and personal interests 5 Distributing Loose Change 6 Trivia 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Early life

Mark Cuban grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Pittsburgh in a working class family; his father worked as an automobile upholsterer.^[5][6] Cuban's first step in the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags^[7] in quantities of 100 for $6,^[8] in order to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes. While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartending, giving disco dancing lessons, 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.^[7]

[edit] Education

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 with a degree in business administration.

[edit] Road to becoming a billionaire

In July of 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas.^[9] Cuban first found work as a bartender while living with five roommates in a three bedroom apartment.^[10][11]

After a short job hunt, he found work with Your Business Software, one of the first PC software retailers in Dallas. As a salesperson earning a commissioned salary of $18,000, 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.^[11]

Cuban started a new company, MicroSolutions, with initial support from previous customers lured 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.^[12] One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems.^[13]

In July 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to Compuserve—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million.^[14] "After taxes, I walked away with about $2 million," Cuban said.^[15]

Cuban and fellow Indiana University alum Todd Wagner still eagerly followed college basketball and were interested in the development of the early Internet. In 1995, Audionet was conceived with the idea of broadcasting live games and events through the Internet. With a single server and ISDN line,^[16] Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and annual revenues close to $100 million.^[17] With the stock market in the midst of the Dot-com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo!, and Cuban received about $5.04 billion in Yahoo! stock.^[18] After the sale, Cuban diversified his wealth to avoid exposure to a market crash.^[19] The strategy proved successful when the dot-com bubble ended, with stock prices rapidly falling, Cuban retained much more wealth than fellow dot-com entrepreneurs. As of 2006, Cuban is #428 on Forbes' "World's Richest People" list, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.^[20]

Cuban continues to work with former Broadcast.com partner Todd Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.^[21] On September 24, 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters.^[22] The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS.^[23]

Cuban was featured on the cover of the November 2003 premiere issue of Best magazine,^[24] announcing the arrival of High Definition Television. Cuban also was co-founder (with Philip Garvin) of HDNet, the first high-definition satellite television network.^[25]

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 US $1 million by participating in various games and 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.^[26]

Cuban financially supported Grokster in the Supreme Court case, MGM v. Grokster.^[27]

Cuban is also a partner in Synergy Sports Technology, a web based basketball scouting and video delivery tool, used by many NBA teams.

As of August 9, 2005, Cuban had begun spearheading ventures in both the social software and distributed networking industries. Cuban is an owner of IceRocket, a search engine which scours the blogosphere for content.^[28] Cuban is also a partner in RedSwoosh^[29] — a company which uses peer-to-peer technology to deliver rich media, including video and software to a user's PC.

Mark Cuban was also an investor in Weblogs, Inc. which was acquired by AOL.^[30]

Cuban's production company 2929 Entertainment, which he co-founded, distributed Bubble, a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh which was released by theaters and on DVD on the same day in January 2006 - known in the film industry as a simultaneous release. This prompted filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan to voice concern over this method at a theater owners convention. Cuban responded by calling Shyamalan an "idiot" on a Dallas radio station.^[23]

In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, tentatively titled Mark Cuban's Radio Maverick.^[31] However, the plans were never finalized and the show will not be done.

In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.com,^[32] 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 has disclosed he will take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth.com in advance of publication. Business and legal analysts have 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 insists that it is acceptable in view of full disclosure.^[33][34][35]

[edit] Sports franchise 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.^[36] A press release was issued on January 20, 2000.^[37]

Cuban has played an active role in developing the Mavericks to NBA championship contenders. His decisions have been the source of media attention and controversy. In the face of such attention, the Mavericks have experienced a turnaround and resurgence of the franchise.^[38] Unlike most owners who play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes, Cuban sits alongside fans in the crowd and wears team jerseys.^[39] Cuban is known for flying his private airplane, a Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream V to attend away games and for wearing Mavericks T-shirts and jerseys at games both at home and on the road. Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register said "He made the ultimate fan fantasy come true by buying and running a professional sports franchise and has been astoundingly good at it."^[40]

He has been fined by the NBA, mostly for critical statements about the league and referees, at least $1,665,000 for 13 incidents.^[41] In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban,^[42]

“

He's got to learn how to control himself as well as the players do. We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court, and I think he's got to learn that, too. He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us.... He sits right there by our bench. I think it's a bit much. But we all told him this before. It's nothing new. The game starts, and he's already yelling at them. So he needs to know how to control himself a little.

”

In an interview with the Associated press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts.^[43] 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.^[44]

[edit] Mavericks ownership change

In the 20 years before Cuban bought the team (and counting the year he closed the deal), the Mavs had a total W-L record of 644-964 (40.0%).^[45] In the six years following, the team has gone 340-152 (69.1%). His first season, the Mavs improved 13 games from the year before.^[45] In the six full years that Cuban has owned the team, they have reached the playoffs each season. Their playoff record before Cuban (20 seasons): 21-32.^[46] Playoff record with Cuban (six seasons): 39-40, including their first trip to the NBA Finals, which they lost to the Miami Heat in six games.

2003-04 NBA season: Cuban allowed Steve Nash to leave as a free agent after the season. Cuban refused to match a contract offer made by the Phoenix Suns to Nash. Playing for the Phoenix Suns, Nash was named the NBA League's MVP for the next two years.^[47]

2004-05 NBA season: Mavericks cut all-star guard/forward Michael Finley in a cost-saving move.

2005-06 NBA season: Cuban started a booing campaign when Finley returned later that year as a member of the San Antonio Spurs.^[48] In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban insulted San Antonio and its fans.^[49] In the same series, Cuban cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen.^[50] and was fined $200,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and criticizing NBA officials.^[51]. 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.

2006-07 NBA season: On February 9, 2007, Cuban made some critical comments about NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, misspelling his name, calling his commercials "boring", that Charles Barkley didn't want Wade in his "five", and implying that overweight teammates are his fault. He also said he would get fined if he made any comments about what he thought really happened in the 2006 NBA Finals.^[52] This was despite previously pledging that he would not make any further comments on the 2006 Finals.^[53]

[edit] Other sports franchises

In 2005, Cuban had expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins^[54]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.^[55]. Cuban has also expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball team. He has made remarks expressing interest in owning the Pittsburgh Pirates^[56] and told the Chicago Tribune in 2006 that he would like to own the Chicago Cubs.^[57]

[edit] Family and personal interests

Cuban married Tiffany Stewart, an advertising executive, in a private ceremony on September 21, 2002 in Barbados.^[58] The couple had a daughter on September 25, 2004. The family also has a cat, Meshugana.^[8]

Cuban is an outspoken admirer of objectivist philosophy and author/philosopher Ayn Rand.^[59] He told Slate, "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. I don't know how many times I have read it, but it got to a point where I had to stop because I would get too fired up."^[60] His political views lean towards libertarianism.^[61] Although he deals with major political parties in order to protect his business interests, he hasn't become directly involved with any of them.

Cuban started the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military persons killed or injured during the Iraq War. He personally matched the first $1 million in contributions with funds from the Mark Cuban Foundation.^[62]

Cuban cultivates a casual lifestyle, rarely wearing a suit and never wearing a wristwatch.^[63]

[edit] Distributing Loose Change

The New York Post broke a story that Mark Cuban was planning to distribute the controversial film "Loose Change Final Cut" which will be narrated by Charlie Sheen.[1] Mark defended his decision to Bill O'Reilly on the The Radio Factor saying its better to have the film out in the open than lurk in the shadows [2]. The film has become one of the most popular 9/11 conspiracy films with tens of millions of views on Google Video.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• The Guinness Book of Records credits Cuban with the "largest single e-commerce transaction," $40 million for his Gulfstream V jet in October 1999.^[64]

• While in attendance at World Wrestling Entertainment's 2003 Survivor Series, Cuban was involved in an altercation with performer Eric Bischoff. When Bischoff threatened to call security or physically escort Cuban out the building, Cuban shoved Bischoff, knocking him from his feet. When Cuban turned around, he was attacked by wrestler Randy Orton with a RKO. While it appeared to be a real altercation, this was a scripted part of the show.^[65]

• In late 2005, Cuban invested in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup making a high-tech toilet seat. The product, called Swash, works like a bidet, but mounts on a standard toilet. A retractable wand is used to clean, and a warm-air dryer is included. "People tend to approach technology the same way," Cuban joked, "whether it's in front of them, or behind them."^[66]

• In December 2005, Cuban invested in Goowy Media Inc., a San Diego startup focused on developing consumer internet applications. Their core products include yourminis, a widget platform that simplifies widget discovery, development, syndication, and tracking.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Broadcast.com
• Dallas Mavericks

[edit] External links

• Mark Cuban's personal weblog