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| With the Yahoo! transaction complete, Cuban decided to pursue his love of basketball, and bought the ] for $285 million from a group led by ] According to legend, Cuban bought the team after an incident in which he and some friends were watching a Mavericks game and Cuban remarked that he could do a better job of managing the team than whoever was doing it at the time. His friends then told him to put his money where his mouth is and purchase the team. The sale was finalized on ], ]. | With the Yahoo! transaction complete, Cuban decided to pursue his love of basketball, and bought the ] for $285 million from a group led by ] According to legend, Cuban bought the team after an incident in which he and some friends were watching a Mavericks game and Cuban remarked that he could do a better job of managing the team than whoever was doing it at the time. His friends then told him to put his money where his mouth is and purchase the team. The sale was finalized on ], ]. | ||
| Cuban has played an important role in the Mavericks achieving championship contender status. He presided over the resurgence of the franchise. Unlike most owners who watch games from skyboxes, Cuban sits alongside fans in the crowd. However, | |||
| Cuban has played an important role in the Mavericks achieving championship contender status. He presided over the resurgence of the franchise. Unlike most owners who watch games from skyboxes, Cuban sits alongside fans in the crowd. However, Cuban has received criticism for his erratic trade-in/trade-out policy each postseason and for providing big contracts for underperforming players, such as ], and ]. He also allowed ] to leave as a free agent following the ]. Because Cuban overpaid underperforming players, re-signing Nash would have cost the Mavericks more than $30 MM in luxury tax above the $63MM that would have been paid directly to Nash. Playing for the Phoenix Suns, Nash was named the NBA League's MVP for the next two years. Prior to the ], Cuban also cut long-time face of the franchise ] in a cost-savings move, then orchestrated a booing campaign when Finley returned later that year in the playoffs as a member of the ] . In that series, which the Mavs eventually won four games to three, Cuban publicly insulted the city of ] and its fans , cursed ] after Game Six , and was fined $200,000 for rushing onto the court after Game One and offering suggestions for "improvement" of NBA playoff officiating . Most recently, Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBA for repeated misconduct following the Mavericks' loss 101-100 in OT to the ] in Game Five of the ]. The Mavericks eventually lost the NBA championship to the Heat. | |||
| In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Mark Cuban, "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."<ref name="NowitzkiCriticism">{{cite news |first = Eddie|last = Sefko|url = http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/070106dnspomavslede.c1dd04.html|title = Dirk to Cuban: Chill out|publisher = The Dallas Morning News|date = ]|accessdate = 2006-07-04}}</ref> | In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Mark Cuban, "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."<ref name="NowitzkiCriticism">{{cite news |first = Eddie|last = Sefko|url = http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/070106dnspomavslede.c1dd04.html|title = Dirk to Cuban: Chill out|publisher = The Dallas Morning News|date = ]|accessdate = 2006-07-04}}</ref> | ||
| Cuban is a dedicated Mavericks fan, known for flying his $41 million private ], a ] ] |
Cuban is a dedicated Mavericks fan, known for flying his $41 million private ], a ] ] to attend away games, and his tendency for wearing Mavericks T-shirts and jerseys at games both at home and on the road. Because of this, magazines and newspapers have dubbed him ''"the fans' dream (come true)."'' | ||
| 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 639-969 (39.7%). Since the purchase, 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): 21-27. Playoff record with Cuban (six seasons): 39-40, including their first trip to the ], which they lost to the ] in six games. (Records as of June 20, 2006.) | 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 639-969 (39.7%). Since the purchase, 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): 21-27. Playoff record with Cuban (six seasons): 39-40, including their first trip to the ], which they lost to the ] in six games. (Records as of June 20, 2006.) | ||
| In ], Cuban had expressed an interest in buying the ]'s ] and ]'s ]. He told the ] in 2006 that he would like to own the ].<ref name="suntimes">{{cite web | In ], Cuban had expressed an interest in buying the ]'s ] and ]'s ]. He told the ] in 2006 that he would like to own the ].<ref name="suntimes">{{cite web | ||
| |url=http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay30.html | |url=http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay30.html | ||
| |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times | |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times | ||
Revision as of 00:58, 23 August 2006
Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh) is an American billionaire entrepreneur and outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team as well as founder of HDNet.
Early years
Cuban, a second-generation American, grew up in the middle-class and blue-collar environment of Pittsburgh. Cuban's first foray in the business world was as a salesman, when he sold garbage bags around his neighborhood in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Cuban earned his way to college by collecting and selling stamps. While in school, he had a variety of jobs, including bartending, giving disco dancing lessons, party promotion and even earned about $1,100 from starting a chain letter. His family was working-class; his father upholstered automobiles.
He started taking evening classes at the University of Pittsburgh during his junior year of High School. Rather than going back to High School for his senior year, he return to the University of Pittsburgh, where he joined Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity. He was able to graduate from High School with his Senior Class due to the kindness of his advisor. After what would have been his senior year in High School at Pitt, he transferred to Indiana University. He transferred because Pitt did not offer an undergraduate business school. He choose Indiana University because of the school's low cost compared to the nation's other top ranked business schools.
Business success
In July of 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas. Living with 5 roomates in a 3 bedroom apartment in the Hill Apts of The VIllage complex, he first found work as a bartender at Elans' on Greenville Ave. After just a few weeks of job hunting, he found work with Your Business Software. The first PC software retailer in the Dallas area as a salesperson earning a salary of 18k dollars plus commissions.
He was fired less than a year later for choosing to make a sales call to close a $10,000 software deal instead of opening the store on time . Cuban founded a new company, MicroSolutions, and was able to convince some of his previous customers to come along. The MicroSolutions became a system integrator and reseller for companies such as Novell, 3Com, IBM, Banyan Vines, Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems and an early adopter of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's biggest clients was Perot Systems. In July 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe, Inc—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million.. "After taxes, I walked away with about $2 million" Cuban once recalled.
Cuban and fellow Indiana alum Todd Wagner, still eagerly followed their college basketball team, and conceived the idea of broadcasting live games and events through the Internet. They began Audionet in 1995 with a single Packard Bell server and ISDN line, which became Broadcast.com in 1998. They achieved success by broadcasting sporting and corporate events substantially cheaper than with existing leased lines. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and annual revenues close to $100 million. With the stock market now in the midst of the Dot-com boom, Cuban was able to sell the company to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in stock. After the sale, Cuban hedged his position in Yahoo in an attempt to avoid exposure to a market crash. According to Forbes, Cuban is worth $1.8 billion.
Sports
With the Yahoo! transaction complete, Cuban decided to pursue his love of basketball, and bought the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million from a group led by H. Ross Perot, Jr. According to legend, Cuban bought the team after an incident in which he and some friends were watching a Mavericks game and Cuban remarked that he could do a better job of managing the team than whoever was doing it at the time. His friends then told him to put his money where his mouth is and purchase the team. The sale was finalized on February 14, 2000.
Cuban has played an important role in the Mavericks achieving championship contender status. He presided over the resurgence of the franchise. Unlike most owners who watch games from skyboxes, Cuban sits alongside fans in the crowd. However, In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Mark Cuban, "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."
Cuban is a dedicated Mavericks fan, known for flying his $41 million private airplane, a Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream V to attend away games, and his tendency for wearing Mavericks T-shirts and jerseys at games both at home and on the road. Because of this, magazines and newspapers have dubbed him "the fans' dream (come true)."
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 639-969 (39.7%). Since the purchase, 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): 21-27. 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. (Records as of June 20, 2006.)
In 2005, Cuban had expressed an interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penquins and Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. He told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2006 that he would like to own the Chicago Cubs.
Cuban is teamed up with Dan Marino, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to bid on the ailing NHL franchise; the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fines
Cuban is among the most controversial NBA team owners, and has been fined by the NBA repeatedly and for larger dollar amounts than anyone else in NBA history. His fines, mostly for controversial statements against the league and its referees, are known to total at least $1,665,000 for 13 incidents, but NBA rules do not require that all fines be publicly disclosed. In several interviews, Cuban has stated that he matches the fines with charitable donations of equal amounts.
In one incident, he asserted that the league's manager of officials, Ed T. Rush, 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
Media and entertainment
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. On September 24 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 art house movie theaters. The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show Star Search, which was broadcast on CBS.
Cuban was featured on the cover of the November 2003 premiere issue of Best magazine, announcing the arrival of High Definition Television. Through 2929 Entertainment, Cuban also purchased HDNet, the first high-definition satellite television network. Cuban once appeared on ESPN's talk TV show Around the Horn, and won his only appearance.
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.
Cuban financially supported Grokster in the Supreme Court case, MGM v. Grokster.
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. Cuban is also a partner in RedSwoosh — 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 the seed investor in Weblogs, Inc. which was acquired by AOL 12 months after his investment.
George Clooney persuaded Cuban partner Todd Wagner to co-finance Good Night, and Good Luck, earning him executive producer status.
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. 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.
In July 2006, Cuban financed creation of Sharesleuth.com, which will set out to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicly traded companies. Cuban's disclosure that he will take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth in advance of publication has raised controversy.
Personal
Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in Barbados in a private ceremony on September 21 2002. They had a daughter in late 2003.
Cuban is an admirer of the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and its objectivist philosophy. He was quoted in Slate as saying, "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."
He considers himself libertarian, and treats his relationships to the major political parties pragmatically, but chooses not to become directly involved with them.
He has established the Mark Cuban Foundation along with the Fallen Patriot Fund.
Cuban communicates almost exclusively by email, avoiding the telephone and visiting his corporate office only occasionally. He cultivates a casual lifestyle, rarely wearing a suit and pointedly never wears a wristwatch.
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.
- Was in attendance at World Wrestling Entertainment's 2003 Survivor Series where he 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 R.K.O.-ed by wrestler Randy Orton, thus adding another individual to Orton's list of "Legend Killings". This of course was all part of the show.
- In late 2005, Cuban led a $1.3 million investment in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup that makes high-tech toilet seats. The seats, called Swash, are heated and automatically clean their users with warm water. In an article about the investment, Dow Jones' VentureWire quoted Cuban on "his past experience in consumer marketing and introducing new products. 'People tend to approach technology the same way, whether it's in front of them, or behind them...'."
References
- Tom D'Angelo (June 08, 2006). "Cuban a unique NBA owner". Palm Beach Post.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); John Strubel. "Mark Cuban: Pittsburgh's Dream Owner". TheBaseballReport.com. - http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/63/fasttalk.html
- Sefko, Eddie (2006-07-01). "Dirk to Cuban: Chill out". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2006-07-04.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Mariotti, Jay (May 30, 2006). "Pitiful Cubs could use a maverick owner". Chicago Sun-Times.
- Anderson, Shelly (June 28, 2006). "Cuban, Marino join N.Y. group in bid for the Penguins". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- "Cuban fined $250,000 for tirade". The Associated Press. June 21, 2006.
See Also
- Featured Athlete on Fox Sports Net's Beyond the Glory
External links
- Mark Cuban's personal weblog
- Indiana University Alumni
- Mark Cuban at IMDb
- Slate article "My First Literary Crush" - Cuban describes The Fountainhead
- CSPAN interview of Cuban, both online video and transcript, first broadcast March 26, 2006
- Cuban fined $200,000 by NBA