Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur.The Dot-Com Billionaire: Mark Cuban He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA basketball team,NBA biography and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network.

Biography

Mark Cuban (his family's last name was shortened from Chabenisky when his grandparents immigrated to America) was born in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh Tribune-Review: Cuban hoping to work his magic here someday. October 22, 2006. and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, in a Jewish working class family. His father Norton was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags in order to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes.The Maverick While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartender, disco dancing instructor, and party promoter. He paid for college by collecting and selling stamps, and once gained about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.

Rather than attend high school for his senior year, Cuban enrolled as a full time student at the University of Pittsburgh. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University's Bloomington, Indiana campus and graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.

Family and personal interests

In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart, an advertising executive, in Barbados, 1 with a wedding reception at the Mavericks' home, the American Airlines Center. Their daughter Alexis Sofia was born 25 Sept 2005; their second daughter Alyssa was born in 2007. 2 The family lives in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, in a mansion 3 that Cuban bought for $13 million.

In June 2007, Cuban underwent hip replacement surgery after suffering from severe osteoarthritis.

Early career

In 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas. Cuban first found work as a bartender,Blog Maverick: Success and Motivation, You only have to be right once! then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the first PC software retailers in Dallas. He was terminated less than a year later.

Cuban started a company, MicroSolutions, with support from his previous customers from Your Business Software. MicroSolutions was initially a system integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems. In 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million. He retained approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.