Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban was born on July 31, 1958, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a working-class Jewish family in Mount Lebanon. He attended the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to Indiana University, where he graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981.

In 1990, Mark Cuban sold his computer consulting and software reselling company, MicroSolutions, to CompuServe for $6 million. In 1995, he co-founded Broadcast.com, an internet radio broadcasting company, which was later acquired by Yahoo! for an astonishing $5.7 billion in 1999, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest single e-commerce transaction.

In 2000, Mark Cuban became the principal owner of the NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, after acquiring a majority stake for $285 million. He expanded his ventures by launching the HDNet television network in 2003, later renamed AXS TV. Cuban's business acumen and personality led to his appearance as a guest judge on the reality TV show "The Apprentice" in 2004.

Mark Cuban founded the Fallen Patriot Fund, supporting families of U.S. military personnel affected by the Iraq War. In 2015, he made a generous $5 million donation to Indiana University Bloomington, establishing the "Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology." During the COVID-19 pandemic, he offered guidance and assistance to struggling small business owners through LinkedIn. Cuban's compassionate nature was evident in 2020 when he personally picked up former NBA player Delonte West, who was struggling with homelessness, and helped him by paying for his hotel room and treatment at a drug rehabilitation center.