Mark Cuban - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

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Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) IMDB - Mark Cuban is an American entrepreneur and billionaire.The Dot-Com Billionaire: Mark Cuban As of 2006, Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA basketball team;NBA biography and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network.HDnet Press Release December 16, 2003

Early life

Cuban's family was working class; his father upholstered automobiles. Cuban grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Entrepreneurship

Cuban's first step in the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bagsTime Magazine: A Bigger Screen for Mark Cuban, April 22, 2002 in quantities of 100 for $6,The Maverick 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 earned about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.

Education

Rather than attending high school for his senior year, he enrolled as a full time student to the University of Pittsburgh. After one year at University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University's Bloomington, Indiana campus. Cuban transferred because Pitt did not offer an undergraduate business school. Cuban became a member of Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity while at University of Pittsburgh.

Family and personal interests

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

Cuban is an outspoken admirer of objectivist philosophy and author/philosopher Ayn Rand.Mark Cuban's Crush On Ayn Rand 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."My First Literary Crush

His political views trend toward libertarianismMark Cuban - Libertarian - although he deals with the major political parties in order to protect his business interests, he hasn't become directly involved with either 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.Fallen Patriot Fund

Cuban cultivates a casual lifestyle, rarely wearing a suit and never wearing a wristwatch.Men of the Week: Business

Road to becoming a billionaire

In July of 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas.Mark Cuban: Pittsburgh's Dream Owner Cuban first found work as a bartender while living with five roommates in a three bedroom apartment.Blog Maverick: Success and Motivation, Part 1 Blog Maverick: Success and Motivation, You only have to be right once!

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.

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.VAR Business - Mark Cuban: A Success Story You Can Relate To One of the company's biggest clients was Perot Systems.BlogMaverick: A little bit of history….Lotus Notes

In July 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to Compuserve—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million.Losing's not an option for Cuban. "After taxes, I walked away with about $2 million," Cuban said.A 'must read' by Maverick owner Mark Cuban

Cuban and fellow Indiana University alum Todd Wagner still eagerly followed their 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,Q&A With Mark Cuban Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and annual revenues close to $100 million.Gale Group Newsletter Database 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.Yahoo completes Broadcast.com acquisition After the sale, Cuban diversified his wealth to avoid exposure to a market crash.http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/63/fasttalk.html The strategy proved successful when the dot-com bubble ended, with stock prices rapidly falling, Cuban retained much more wealth than fellow dot-com entreprenuers. As of 2006, Cuban is #428 on Forbes' "World's Richest People" list, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.#428 Mark Cuban

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.Holdings On September 24 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters.Mark Cuban buys Landmark The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS.2929 Productions at IMDb

Cuban was featured on the cover of the November 2003 premiere issue of Best magazine,Best Stuff and Primedia Launch Best announcing the arrival of High Definition Television. Cuban also was co-founder (with Philip Garvin) of HDNet, the first high-definition satellite television network.HDNet, Only All-High Definition National Television Network, Launches on DIRECTV

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. The Benefactor

Cuban financially supported Grokster in the Supreme Court case, MGM v. Grokster.Mark Cuban to Finance Grokster's Fight

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.Mark Cuban to relaunch IceRocket Cuban is also a partner in RedSwooshRedSwoosh latest video file-sharing entrant, to raise $5M+ — 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.AOL Acquires Weblogs, Inc.

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.

In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, which is tentatively titled Mark Cuban's Radio Maverick; the show is set to debut this summer.Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban to Host Talk Show Exclusively On SIRIUS Satellite Radio Update - Mark announced on Oct 29 that the show is not happening due to his partners in the NBA who didn't see the value he brought to the league.RadioMaverics will not air

In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.comMark Cuban Invests In New Investigative Journalism Site, 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.Cuban's made his agenda crystal clear And it looked so good Money is Good

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.Cuban, unembargoed A press release was issued on January 20, 2000.NBA press release

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.The NBA's True Maverick Unlike most owners who play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes, Cuban enthusiastically sits alongside fans in the crowd and wears team jerseys.Worst to first: How Mark Cuban engineered a team's monumental turnaround 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."All fun and games for Cuban

He has been fined by the NBA, mostly for critical statements about the league and referees, at least $1,665,000 for 13 incidents.ABCnews: Cuban Slammed with $250,000 Fine In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban,

Cuban tries to turn negative incidents into positive press for the Mavericks. In an interview with the Associated press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts. Cuban fined $250,000 for tirade, The Associated Press, June 21, 2006 In nationally publicised 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 eager fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard from the owner of the Mavericks.Mavs owner serves smiles and ice cream

Mavericks turnaround

The Mavericks improved following Cuban's purchase of the team. 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%).Dallas Mavericks 1980- 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. 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.Sports Network 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. Playing for the Phoenix Suns, Nash was named the NBA League's MVP for the next two years.Steve Nash Named 2004-05 NBA MVP

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.Finley's 'act' turns off Cuban In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban made statements judged by local media to be insulting the city of San Antonio and its fans.Cuban Eats His Words, Spurs Force Game 7 In the same series, Cuban also cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen. [1] and would be fined $200,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and being critical of NBA officials. [2]. 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.

Other sports franchises

In 2005, Cuban had expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh PenguinsCuban, Marino to buy Pens?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.. Cuban has also expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball team. He has made remarks expressing interest in owning the Pittsburgh PiratesCuban interested if Pirates for sale and told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2006 that he would like to own the Chicago Cubs.

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.Guiness World Records

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 cutter move. While it appeared to be a real altercation, this was a scripted part of the show.Superstars upset over Mark Cuban segment, SD treated differently, more

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."Clean living

References

External links

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