Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban.
  • Mark Cuban is among the richest people in the US, with an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion.
  • He's earned his fortune through business deals including the $5.7 billion sale of Broadcast.com.
  • The "Shark Tank" investor has spent millions on private planes, a yacht, and a lavish Dallas home.

Mark Cuban, 66, is one of the wealthiest people in America, with an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion, according to Forbes.

Getting there wasn't easy. Cuban's journey to becoming a billionaire included living in a "dumpy" apartment, where he stayed up late eating chicken wings and teaching himself to code. His unglamorous life as an aspiring entrepreneur included taking no vacation time for seven years and stealing towels from the Holiday Inn.

The late nights ended up paying off: The businessman and investor earned his fortune with a series of shrewd business deals starting in the 1990s, most notably the sale of his streaming site Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion in stocks. He continues to make major moves in the industry, such as selling a majority stake in his two cable networks, AXS TV and HDNet Movies, and owning nearly $1 billion in Amazon stock.

Read on to see how Cuban earns — and spends — his fortune.

Mark Cuban is worth an estimated $5.7 billion, earning his fortune over a lifetime of shrewd business deals.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban.

According to Forbes, he is ranked the 570th richest person in the world.

He got his start in the early 1980s selling software for a company called Your Business Software.
A young Mark Cuban.
A young Mark Cuban.

In 1982, he started his own company, MicroSolutions, which he sold eight years later for $6 million. Cuban made $2 million off the deal, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Cuban rose to fame with an internet radio company called Broadcast.com that Yahoo acquired in 1999 for $5.7 billion.
Mark Cuban with Yahoo! executives in 1999.
Mark Cuban with Yahoo executives in 1999.

Broadcast.com began as a radio company called Audionet. The site streamed broadcasts of sports games, political conventions, and other events. Cuban took control of the company in 1995 and netted $1 billion when he sold his shares.

Following his billion-dollar payday, Cuban bought a Gulfstream V business jet for $40 million.
A Gulfstream V private jet.
A Gulfstream V aircraft.

To this day, it holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest purchase ever conducted over the internet.

Cuban called the plane one of the smartest purchases he's ever made. "It's obviously brutally expensive, but time is the one asset we simply don't own," he wrote for Men's Journal in 2018. "It saves me hours and hours."

He went on to add another private jet and a 288-foot yacht named "Fountainhead" to his portfolio in later years.

He bought the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million in 2000.
Mark Cuban with players from the Dallas Mavericks.
Mark Cuban with players from the Dallas Mavericks.

Cuban raised his profile by sitting courtside at Mavericks games and drew attention for his animated reactions and media outbursts.

His frequent criticisms of NBA referees have cost him a small fortune. As of February 2018, the NBA had fined him close to $2.6 million for his comments and antics over the years, The New York Times reported.

When the Mavericks won the NBA championship in 2011, Cuban spent $110,000 on his team's bar tab that night.
Mark Cuban celebrates the Mavericks' NBA Championship.
Mark Cuban with the Dallas Mavericks after winning the NBA Championship.

The tab included a $90,000 bottle of Armand de Brignac Champagne. Cuban also left a $20,000 tip.

"Worth every penny," he told Page Six.

Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks for around $3.5 billion in 2023.
Mark Cuban at a basketball game.
Mark Cuban at a basketball game.

A 2023 Forbes estimate valued the Mavericks at $4.5 billion. Cuban is still a minority owner of the team. 

He's supported numerous charitable causes over the years.
mark cuban phone charity
Mark Cuban at a charity event.

Cuban has supported charitable organizations such as Autism Speaks, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

In 2012, he donated $40,000 to save the local Greenville Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade when the group organizing the annual event ran out of funding.

"You just can't let a Dallas tradition like that die," Cuban told local NBC News affiliate KXAS.

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Cuban lent the Mavericks team plane to point guard and Puerto Rico native JJ Barea to fly food, water, and supplies to the island.
jj barea
Mavericks point guard JJ Barea.

The Category 4 storm killed an estimated 2,975 people and left $80 billion in damage across Puerto Rico. It took 11 months to fully restore power across the island.

Cuban also pledged $10 million to women's causes after a Sports Illustrated investigation unearthed allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at the Mavericks organization.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban at a Mavericks game.

A 2018 Sports Illustrated report documented allegations of rampant misogyny and sexual harassment within the Mavericks organization, leading to an official NBA investigation, which uncovered "improper workplace conduct" by the team's former president and CEO, among other findings.

Cuban told Sports Illustrated that he had no knowledge of the reported toxic workplace culture since he was "not involved in the day-to-day" of the organization.

"I'm embarrassed, to be honest with you, that it happened under my ownership, and it needs to be fixed," he said.

As part of the NBA's investigation into the Mavericks workplace culture, Cuban donated $10 million to women's causes and domestic violence awareness.

He's the cofounder of a media company, 2929 Entertainment.
Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban.
Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban.

Cofounded with Todd Wagner in 2003, 2929 Entertainment owns the production companies behind films like "Akeelah and the Bee" and "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Cuban also leveraged his fame into a short-lived 2004 reality series called "The Benefactor."
mark cuban the benefactor
Mark Cuban on "The Benefactor."

The show, in which contestants competed to win $1 million of Cuban's money, was panned as a ripoff of "The Apprentice" and canceled after six episodes.

ABC's "Shark Tank," in which hopeful entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of celebrity investors, proved much more successful.
The
"Shark Tank" judges Daymond John, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.

"Shark Tank" has aired for 15 seasons. Cuban joined as a "guest shark" in the show's second season and became a regular judge.

Cuban told Forbes in 2022 that he's invested $29 million in at least 85 startups and small businesses over 13 seasons of "Shark Tank." His most successful investments have been in the preschool app Brightwheel and flushable Dude Wipes.

In 2019, Cuban sold his two long-standing cable networks, AXS TV and HDNet Movies, to Steve Harvey for an undisclosed sum.
Mark Cuban and Steve Harvey on
Mark Cuban and Steve Harvey on "Celebrity Family Feud."

Steve Harvey joined Anthem Sports & Entertainment to take over the two networks from Cuban. ASX TV's programming includes wrestling and MMA fighting, and HDNet Movies shows a variety of films, Deadline reported.

Cuban continued on with the two companies as an equity partner, while Anthem took over operational control.

Cuban owns homes in Dallas and Laguna Beach, California.
mark cuban vacation home
Mark Cuban's home in Laguna Beach.

In 1999, Cuban paid $17.6 million for a 24,000-square-foot mansion in Dallas, where he and his family still live. The 7-acre property features 10 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a separate guest house in the back.

In 2018, Cuban also bought a $19 million vacation villa in Laguna Beach's exclusive Montage Residences community. The modern six-bedroom home has walls that disappear to open up to the outdoor space and a private pool.

The savvy investor said in 2019 that his biggest holdings were in Netflix and Amazon.
Mark Cuban.
Mark Cuban.

Cuban told Fox Business News that he has "close to a billion dollars" in Amazon stock alone.

Cuban said one of the best purchases he ever made was an unlimited first-class American Airlines ticket for $250,000, a promotion that the airline offered from 1981 to 1994.
American Airlines
An American Airlines plane.

Cuban and 25 other ticket-holders continue to enjoy free airfare for life, The Hustle reported.

Despite his sometimes lavish spending, Cuban keeps a frugal mentality much of the time.
Carts outside a Costco.
Costco.

For example, he insists on buying items in bulk, especially items he knows he'll need such as razors and toothpaste.

"The money you save by investing in bulk will provide a better return on investment than any investment vehicle on the planet," he told NPR in 2013.

He also told Vanity Fair in 2017: "You're better off buying two years worth of toothpaste when it's on 50% discount. That's an immediate return on your money."

Additionally, he advocates for people to achieve financial independence by paying off debt and stashing six months' worth of income in the bank.

In 2022, Cuban cofounded Cost Plus Drugs, a pharmacy company that bypasses wholesalers and middlemen to sell medications at lower prices.
Mark Cuban standing by the White House.
Mark Cuban at a White House meeting about prescription drug costs.

Cuban told Forbes in 2022 that he'd invested $100 million in the company, which, according to its website, aims "to disrupt the drug industry and to do our best to end ridiculous drug prices."

Cost Plus Drugs sells medications at the cost they purchase them for plus a set 15% markup, a pricing model that CVS then adopted in 2023.

"If we get this right, this will be the most impactful thing I've ever done," he said.

Cuban's relentless work ethic and financial smarts have made him one of the richest people in America.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban.

As he once said, "Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it all away from you."

Read the original article on Business Insider