106 Facts About Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban was born on July 31,1958 and is an American businessman and television personality.

Mark Cuban is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, co-owner of 2929 Entertainment, and is one of the main "sharks" on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank.

Mark Cuban graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and embarked on a diverse business career that included founding MicroSolutions and Broadcast.

Mark Cuban has been a prominent figure in the NBA, known for his active involvement with the Mavericks, and disputes with the league's management.

Mark Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 31,1958.

Mark Cuban is Jewish, and grew up in Mount Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in a working-class family.

Mark Cuban sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive sneakers.

At age 16, Mark Cuban took advantage of a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike by running newspapers from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.

Mark Cuban chose Indiana's Kelley School of Business without even visiting the campus because it "had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list".

Mark Cuban had various business ventures during college, including a bar, disco lessons, and a chain letter.

On July 7,1982, Mark Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas, where he first found a job as a bartender for a Greenville Avenue bar called Elan and then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the earliest PC software retailers in Dallas.

Mark Cuban was fired less than a year later, after meeting with a client to procure new business instead of opening the store.

Mark Cuban co-founded MicroSolutions with support from his previous customers at Your Business Software.

Mark Cuban was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe.

Mark Cuban has repeatedly described himself as very lucky to have sold the company before the dot-com bubble burst.

Mark Cuban continues to work with Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.

Mark Cuban is responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS.

Mark Cuban has assisted ventures in the social software and distributed networking industries.

Mark Cuban was an owner of IceRocket, a search engine that scours the blogosphere for content.

In 2005, Mark Cuban invested $1.7 million in file-sharing company Red Swoosh, co-founded by Travis Kalanick, providing much-needed capital to the company after the early 2000s recession.

Mark Cuban proposed a $5 million valuation, but never heard back from Kalanick.

Mark Cuban insisted that the practice is legal in view of full disclosure.

In September 2010, Mark Cuban provided an undisclosed amount of venture capital to store-front analytics company Motionloft.

Mark Cuban has gone on record to state that the technology, which at least in part is meant to serve the commercial real estate industry, is "game changing" for tenants.

Also in late 2021, Mark Cuban purchased the entire town of Mustang, Texas, a 77-acre town in Navarro County.

Mark Cuban has been a "shark" investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank since season two in 2011.

In 2022, Mark Cuban stated that his portfolio of Shark Tank investments had made a net loss, saying "I've gotten beat".

Since Mark Cuban joined the show in 2011, the ratings for Shark Tank have increased, and during his tenure, the show has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Structured Reality Program.

Mark Cuban announced in November 2023 that the show's 16th season will be his last.

Mark Cuban has invested in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as well as accepting the particular cryptocurrency as a method of payment for Dallas Mavericks merchandise and tickets since at least early 2021.

In January 2022, Mark Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs, with the aim of lowering generic drug prices for end consumers in the US Mark Cuban started the company after receiving an email from a radiologist named Alex Oshmyansky, who pitched the idea of an online-based pharmacy.

Mark Cuban often refers to Cost Plus Drugs as a critique and disruptor of the US healthcare system, including offering transparent, direct-to-consumer pricing and reducing the role of pharmacy benefit managers.

NBA team owners historically play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes; Mark Cuban sits alongside fans while donning team jerseys.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011, due in part to Mark Cuban asserting proper management of the team due to its recent victory in the 2011 NBA Finals.

In January 2018, Mark Cuban announced the Mavericks would be accepting Bitcoin as payment for tickets in the following season.

On March 4,2021, Mark Cuban announced the Mavericks would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for both merchandise as well as tickets to games.

Mark Cuban did not complain, and ended up playing the anthem.

On November 28,2023, The Dallas Morning News reported that Mark Cuban was in the process of selling his share in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson.

Mark Cuban has said he earned an estimated $3.5 billion from the sale.

Mark Cuban has repeatedly expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball franchise and has unsuccessfully attempted to purchase at least three franchises.

Mark Cuban was not selected to participate in the final bidding process in January 2009.

Mark Cuban had outbid a competing ownership group led by ex-pitcher and Rangers executive Nolan Ryan, but lost the deal before the Rangers played the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 World Series.

In January 2012, Mark Cuban placed an initial bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was eliminated before the second round of bidding.

Mark Cuban felt that the value of the Dodgers' TV rights deal drove the price of the franchise too high.

Mark Cuban has wanted to purchase his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, but was rebuffed by then owner Kevin McClatchy in 2005.

In 2005, Mark Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.

In 2006, Mark Cuban joined an investment group along with Dan Marino, Kevin Millevoi, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to attempt to acquire the Penguins.

At WWE's Survivor Series in 2003, Mark Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and Raw wrestler Randy Orton.

On December 7,2009, Mark Cuban acted as the guest host of Raw, getting revenge on Orton when he was the guest referee in Orton's match against Kofi Kingston, giving Kingston a fast count victory.

On September 12,2007, Mark Cuban said that he was in talks with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to create a mixed martial arts company that would compete with UFC.

Mark Cuban is a bondholder of Zuffa, which was formerly UFC's parent company.

Mark Cuban followed up his intentions by organizing "HDNet Fights", a mixed martial arts promotion which airs exclusively on HDNet and premiered on October 13,2007, with a card headlined by a fight between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford as well as fights featuring veterans Drew Fickett and Justin Eilers.

Since 2009, Mark Cuban has been a panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

Mark Cuban did not own a franchise, and he was not involved in day-to-day operations of the league nor of any of its teams.

In June 2015, Mark Cuban invested in the esports betting platform Unikrn.

In February 2016, Mark Cuban purchased a principal ownership stake in the Professional Futsal League.

Mark Cuban held a position on the centrist Unity08 political organization's advisory council.

In 1996, Mark Cuban donated $6,000 to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

In 2002, Mark Cuban donated $1,000 to Democratic California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

On February 8,2008, Mark Cuban voiced his support for the draft Bloomberg movement attempting to convince New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run in the US presidential election of 2008 on his blog.

In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Mark Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head.

On December 19,2012, Mark Cuban donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to support its work on patent reform.

Mark Cuban formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president at a July 30,2016, rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On November 22,2016, Mark Cuban met with the then President-elect Trump's key advisor Steve Bannon.

In October 2024 Mark Cuban revealed on the All-In Podcast that Trump had reached out to him for a position during his administration.

On February 2,2021, Mark Cuban joined Reddit's WallStreetBets "Ask Me Anything" forum with millions of members and fielded user questions related to the GameStop short squeeze.

Mark Cuban offered insight into his trading technique suggesting that traders know why they are buying something and to "HODL" until they learn that something has changed.

Mark Cuban noted a need for policy change to better support retail traders, credited the WallStreetBets community for leading the charge, and expressed optimism about blockchain trading as a more efficient, transparent and trustworthy form of trading for retail traders in the future.

Alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Mark Cuban launched "Business Leaders for Harris", a group of executives supporting Harris for President.

Mark Cuban expressed interest in serving as the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission if Harris were elected and offered himself for the position.

In October 2024, Mark Cuban joined Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, first making an appearance alongside her in Wisconsin on October 17.

In September 2015, Mark Cuban stated in an interview that running for president was "a fun idea to toss around", and that, if he was running in the 2016 US presidential election, he "could beat both Trump and Clinton".

Mark Cuban told Meet the Press in May 2016 that he would be open to being Clinton's running mate in the election, though he would seek to alter some of her positions in order to do so.

Mark Cuban posited that the best strategy to beat Trump was to attack his insecurities, especially that of his intellect.

Mark Cuban added that Trump is the least qualified to be president and is not informed about policies.

In September 2016, during a post-presidential debate interview, Mark Cuban criticized Trump's characterization that paying the minimum required taxes 'is smart' and criticized Trump for not paying back into the system that allowed him to amass such wealth.

In October 2017, Mark Cuban said that he would "definitely" run for president if he was single.

However, in a March 2019 interview with the New York Daily News, Mark Cuban stated that he was "strongly considering running" for president as an independent candidate.

Mark Cuban went so far as to commission a national poll, which, according to Cuban, showed he would only receive 25 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup with President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Mark Cuban said that the poll showed his candidacy would have pulled votes from both Trump and Biden.

Mark Cuban's ownership has been the source of extensive media attention and controversy involving league policies.

Mark Cuban has been fined by the NBA at least $1.665 million across 13 incidents, primarily for critical statements about the league and its referees.

Mark Cuban accepted the company's invitation and 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.

In February 2007, Mark 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.

Mark Cuban was apparently offended that Smith had thrown an elbow that barely missed Mavericks forward Antoine Wright.

Mark Cuban offered to match the fine with a donation to a charity of Smith's choosing.

Mark Cuban stated that if he doesn't hear from Smith, then he will donate the money to the NHL Players' Association Goals and Dreams Fund in the names of Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore.

In May 2009, Mark Cuban made a reference to the Denver Nuggets being "thugs" after a loss to the Nuggets in game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Mark Cuban issued an apology the next day referencing the poor treatment of away fans in arenas around the league.

On May 22,2010, Mark Cuban was fined $100,000 for comments he made during a television interview about trying to sign LeBron James.

On January 18,2014, Mark Cuban was fined $100,000 for confronting referees and using inappropriate language toward them.

Mark Cuban jokingly commented that he could not let Stern leave without a proper farewell.

On March 6,2020, Mark Cuban was fined $500,000 by the NBA for "public criticism and detrimental conduct regarding NBA officiating", according to the league.

On November 17,2008, it was reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Mark Cuban relating to alleged insider trading in the shares of Mamma.

The SEC claimed that Mark Cuban ordered the sale of his holdings in Mamma.

Mark Cuban disputed the charges, saying he had not agreed to keep the information secret.

DealBook, a section of The New York Times, reported through an anonymous source that Mark Cuban believed the investigation was motivated by an SEC employee having taken offense to his interest in possibly distributing the film Loose Change.

In March 2014, Mark Cuban was on air at CNBC criticizing high-frequency trading.

Those against HFT, such as Mark Cuban, believe the technology is equivalent to automated insider trading.

Mark Cuban submitted seven photographs, two of which Portland Police Detective Brendan McGuire referred to as "significant".

Mark Cuban denied the allegations, and his attorney provided the results of a polygraph test taken by Mark Cuban and written statements from two medical doctors stating that the actions described were anatomically improbable.

In September 2002, Mark Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in a private ceremony in Barbados.

In 2003, Mark Cuban founded the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of US military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War.

In 2020, Mark Cuban picked up homeless former NBA player Delonte West from a gas station in Dallas.

Mark Cuban paid for a hotel room for West along with his treatment at a drug rehabilitation center.

In 2024, Mark Cuban was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People 2024.