"

 Austin Wheeler 

Mark CubanFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaYou have new messages (last change).
Jump to: navigation, search 
Mark Cuban 

Mark Cuban with the Larry O'Brien trophy at the Dallas Mavericks championship parade 
Born July 31, 1958 (1958-07-31) (age 53)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. 
Ethnicity Jewish 
Alma mater Indiana University 
Occupation Owner of Dallas Mavericks, co-owner of 2929 Entertainment, and Chairman of HDNet 
Net worth  US$2.5 billion (2011)[1] 
Spouse Tiffany Stewart (m. 2002) «start: (2002)»""Marriage: Tiffany Stewart to Mark Cuban"" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban) 
Children 2 daughters, 1 son[2] 

Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958)[3] is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks,[4] Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet.[5] He is also a part-time ""shark"" investor on the television series Shark Tank. In 2011, Cuban wrote an e-book, ""How to Win at the Sport of Business"", in which he chronicles his life experiences in business and sports.

Contents [hide] 
1 Biography 
1.1 Family
2 Early career
3 Business career 
3.1 Magnolia Pictures
3.2 Insider trading allegation
4 Dallas Mavericks 
4.1 Ownership
4.2 NBA policy controversies
5 Other sports businesses 
5.1 Major League Baseball
6 Political leanings
7 Fallen Patriot Fund
8 ""The Mark Cuban Stimulus Plan""
9 Film and television credits 
9.1 Acting roles
9.2 As himself
10 References
11 External links
 

[edit] BiographyCuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[6][7] and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, in a Jewish[8] working-class family. His last name was shortened from ""Chabenisky"" when his Russian grandparents landed on Ellis Island.[9] Cuban's father Norton was an automobile upholsterer.[6][10][11] Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes.[6][12] While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartender, disco dancing instructor, and party promoter. He paid for college by collecting and selling stamps, and once gained about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.[6]

Rather than attending high school for his senior year, Cuban enrolled as a full time student at the University of Pittsburgh. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.[13]

[edit] FamilyIn September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart, an advertising executive, in Barbados,[14] with a wedding reception at the American Airlines Center. Their first daughter, Alexis Sofia, was born on September 25, 2005; their second daughter, Alyssa, was born in 2007.[15] Tiffany and Mark also have a son born in early 2010.[2] The family lives in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, in a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) mansion.[16]

[edit] Early careerIn 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas. Cuban first found work as a bartender,[17][18] 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, after meeting with a client to procure new business instead of opening the store.[19]

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.[20] One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems.[21] In 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R; Block—for $6 million.[22] He retained approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.[23]

In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner started Audionet, combining their mutual interest in college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line,[24] Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter.[25] In 1999, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.9 billion in Yahoo! stock.[26]

[edit] Business careerAfter the sale of Broadcast.com, Cuban diversified his wealth to avoid exposure to a market crash.[27] As of 2011, Cuban is No. 459 on Forbes' list of ""World's Richest People"", with a net worth of $2.5 billion.[28] The Guinness Book of Records credits Cuban with the ""largest single e-commerce transaction"", after he paid $40