Mark Cuban: Top 12 facts

Becoming a millionaire at the age of 32 and encompassing a net worth of over $3 billion, Mark Cuban has been behind an array of business ventures which has seen him rise to the top of his game. Now the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and behind further business opportunities, we take a look at our top 10 facts regarding the entrepreneur.

1. He is a staunch supporter in finding solutions to the rise of automation and future loss of jobs as a result of robotics, openly stating that this is more important than investing in the US’ current infrastructural needs and has appealed to President-elect Trump to gain the role of robotics president.
2. Although Cuban previously endorsed Hillary Clinton in the recent US election campaign, he has recently been seen with a close advisor of Trump’s, Steven Bannon, possibly in an attempt to thaw relations
3. Cuban originally made his first $6 million through start-up company MicroSolutions, which was sold to CompuServe in 1990.
4. Cuban found further success within webcasting, with the invention of AudioNet, renamed Broadcast.com. Built in collaboration with Todd Wagner who Cuban met at Indiana University, the duo aimed to listen to basketball games with ease. Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion.
5. Sport is a key passion of Cuban’s, at which he has attempted to purchase several sporting franchises, in addition to the Dallas Mavericks
6. The entrepreneur was the first owner of any sports franchise to implement a sports blog detailing his own thoughts and ideas surrounding the NBA, which has remained a success.
7. He has since expanded on this through a collaboration with Synergy Sports Technology, a popular search tool within the basketball industry
8. Cuban’s interests have since expanded into TV and theatre networks, purchasing Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures, but has also been in several TV programmes, such as Sharknado 3.
9. Strong business ties with Wagner remain, with Cuban’s enterprise 2929 Entertainment
10. He is responsible for increasing the ratings for ABC’s series Shark Tank, of which he has been an investor since 2012 and also has been part of over 80 deals on the programme, supporting other start-up companies.
11. Has launched a private messaging app named Cyber Dust, which is advertised as being as safe as a phone call, as all messages are unable to be recovered, encrypted and not stored on traditional phones. The app even allows users to delete previous sent messages on the receiver’s phone, but are automatically erased after 24 hours.
12. Cuban has published a children’s book to appeal to younger audiences, in addition to Let’s Go, Mavs! and How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It, to inspire further entrepreneurs.

Picture source: (cc) Ken Yeung -- www.thelettertwo.com (Flickr)

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