Mark Cuban is the owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks and the star of the hit TV show Shark Tank. Through a combination of knowledge, business savvy, street smarts, and a few wise investments, Cuban rises to the rank of one of the richest people in the world.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Mark Cuban is worth an estimated $5 billion. This makes him the 5th richest person in Texas and the 169th richest person in the world. So how did Mark Cuban make his money?
Who is Mark Cuban?
Mark Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1958. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. His mother was a housewife and his father worked in an auto upholstery shop.
According to a Bloomberg interview in 2014, Cuban’s life changed instantly when his father didn’t buy him a new pair of shoes. If you want a new pair of sneakers, you need a job and you can buy them. Cuban began selling packs of trash bags to families in the neighborhood. Why? Because everyone needs trash bags.
Cuban skipped his senior year of high school, attending the University of Pittsburgh. A year later, he transferred to Indiana University, where he continued his entrepreneurial path. There, Mark offered dance lessons to students and rented space in a nearby bar for discos. And, in the end, he got a degree in business administration.
In 1981, Cuban returned to Pittsburgh for a year. He immersed himself in the study of machines, computers and networks. However, he did not want to stay there. In 1982, he moved to Texas in search of a more fulfilling life, where he worked as a salesman for Your Business Software, an early PC software company based in Dallas. A year later, he was fired and left determined to start a business and make millions.
How Mark Cuban Made His Money
Mark Cuban became a millionaire in 1990. Shortly after leaving his job selling software, Cuban started the MicroSolutions business. Cuban sold the firm in 1990 for $6 million.
Even though he had enough money to retire early and enjoy life, the millionaire continued to accumulate wealth. In 1995, he invested in the company with fellow Indiana alumnus Todd Wagner and founded AudioNet. The idea was to listen to Indiana Hoosier games online. However, it has grown to become a huge success, including airing the first annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
After rebranding as Broadcast.com, the company went public and its stock reached a new all-time high. A year later, Wagner and Cuban sold the company to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in Yahoo stock. After owning the shares for six months, Cuban achieved billionaire status, raking in about $2 billion in cash from the deal. Over the next year and a half, Yahoo stock fell nearly 95%, making it one of the best investment decisions of all time.
Having reached the status of a billionaire, Mark Cuban continues to earn money. He bought the Dallas Mavericks for $285 billion from Ross Perot Jr. As a longtime season ticket holder, this was both an investment and a dream. Thanks to the new owner’s enthusiasm and innovation, the Mavericks won the NBA championship in 2011.
Cuban continues to invest in small businesses through the acclaimed TV program Shark Tank. He brings his sound business advice to the small screen, teaching millions of entrepreneurs around the world what it takes to invest and build a startup. Cuban has invested nearly $20 million in over 80 small businesses since joining the show in 2012.
In addition, Cuban is an early investor in the $4 billion SPAC banking app, Dave, and owner of film distributor Magnolia Pictures. In addition, he has been open about his investments in cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin.
Personal life of Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban married his longtime girlfriend Tiffany Stewart in 2002. He has two daughters, Alexis (born in 2003) and Alyssa (born in 2006), and a son, Jake (born in 2010). They live in a 24,000-square-foot mansion in Preston Hollow, a suburb of Dallas.
He is a vegetarian.
He is a businessman and philanthropist. He has helped military personnel through the Fallen Patriot Fund and small business owners through LinkedIn. In addition, he donated $5 million to Indiana University for the Mark Cuban Sports Media and Technology Center. Following allegations of a hostile work environment at the Dallas Mavericks front office, Cuban donated $10 million to organizations that promote women in leadership positions and fight domestic violence.
Money advice for entrepreneurs from a Cuban
Mark Cuban was not born into money. He built it.
Cuban started a personal blog, Blog Maverick, where he wrote his early thoughts about life, money, and business. The blog contains articles about his many works, motivations and hidden insecurities in running a business.
Millions of people around the world turn to Cuban for advice through his TV show, Twitter, and calls to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Here are three tips to learn from Cuban if you want to increase your net worth.
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- Never invest in a business you don’t understand. On his blog, Cuban writes that you can do nothing. So if you don’t understand the business, don’t invest. Losing everything is too risky and not worth it. You must understand the ins and outs of your investments. Never trust all your trust to someone else.
- Control your emotions. In How to Win in Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It, Cuban writes that fear is the enemy of success. Fear is normal and natural, but it holds you back and holds you back. You have to take some risks in life. Just make it a calculated risk. Educate yourself and develop confidence.
- Analyze your spending habits. Cuban writes about a concept called transitional return. He encourages readers to examine their buying habits and, whenever possible, buy in bulk. This saves money over time and you don’t pay taxes on the money you save. Budgeting is an important skill, no matter how much money you have, because there is always something you will want to buy. Plus, there’s always something new. Everyone has a limited amount of money that needs to be budgeted before it disappears.
- Read and read more. Cuban believes that a good book is worth more than the money spent to buy it. So he is willing to pay for one book idea. He told Vanity Fair that one idea is a bargain for the price of the book. Cuban mentioned investment books like The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias and How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst to get you started.
- Pay the debt off. Mark Cuban is not a fan of debt. One of the first questions he asks companies using Shark Tank is about their balance sheet, also known as a debt tracker. Cuban says that if you pay more than five percent on a debt, that’s too much. You lose money because the investment doesn’t always return more than that five percent. Try to pay off your credit card balance every month and spend cash whenever you can.
- Look for multiple sources of income. Cuban is one of the richest people in the world, but he didn’t get there in one particular way. Of course, he became a millionaire after one case, but it took a lot of trial and error. He has been on the path to entrepreneurship since the age of 12. The super-rich have multiple sources of income such as investments, stocks, royalties, patents, rental properties, and earned income.
Final Thoughts
The road to super-wealth has not been easy, but it has paid off for billionaire Mark Cuban, who in 2022 made it onto the Forbes 400 richest Americans list. Cuban’s wealth was not based on one business, one investment, or luck. Instead, he made his fortune on several small business investments and one well-timed stock sale.
The secret is to think about wealth and go for it. Go beyond your salary and start investing in startups, earn passive income and accumulate wealth. To be rich, earn millions, or have billions, you must put in the time and effort.
Money doesn’t grow on trees – many self-made billionaires like Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk weren’t born rich with inheritances. Getting rich takes time, multiple investments, and more time. You don’t have to win the lottery or start with money. Learn from a Cuban how to get rich by doing different things. Start today because generational wealth is available to everyone who makes the effort.
This article originally appeared on Wealth of Geeks.
