Mark Cuban is known as the billionaire entrepreneur (net worth $2.8 billion) currently focusing on the sports and entertainment industries. Cuban's holdings include five companies. Cuban paid $280 million for 75 percent ownership of the NBA Dallas Mavericks basketball team, taking revenues from $40 million to $140 million. He is also part owner of the following: HDNet and HDNet Movies, which have more than 6.8 million subscribers; 2929 Productions, which released George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck; Magnolia Pictures, which distributed independent films like Crazy Love; and Landmark Theatres, one of the largest and most innovative art-house theater chains with 57 theaters in 24 markets. Cuban is in partnership with Todd Wagner for all five organizations. All five companies are privately held, so profitability is not available, and they have no plans to take the companies public. But Mark Cuban didn't start at the top. Truth be told, Mark Cuban was the last guy anyone would have expected to become a billionaire. Here is Cuban's entrepreneurial story. His family's last name, Cuban, was shortened from Chabenisky when his grandparents, Russian Jews, arrived at Ellis Island. Cuban grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in a working-class family. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags door-to-door. Soon after, he was selling stamps, coins, and baseball cards, which paid for his business degree at Indiana University. While attending IU, Cuban bought a Bloomington bar and named it Motley's, raising the money by selling shares to his friends. After college, he moved to Dallas, Texas, and went into computer sales. Cuban and Martin Woodall founded Micro Solutions, and they sold the company for $6 million; Cuban netted approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal. Cuban moved to Los Angeles for awhile where he day-traded and took acting lessons. Todd Wagner proposed starting AudioNet, which later became Broad cast. com and Cuban leapt at the chance. Broad cast. com's initial public offering (IPO) stock price was $18, but it climbed to $62 at the end of the first day; Cuban was suddenly $85 million richer. They sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo!, and Cuban became worth more than $1 billion in Yahoo! stock. With this fortune, he entered the sports and entertainment industries with his partner Todd Wagner. Today, Mark Cuban presides over his business empire almost entirely by e-mail from his home office.1

Opening Case Questions:

1. What sources and types of power does Mark Cuban have, and why has he had problems with power?

2. Why are organizational politics important to Mark Cuban's enterprises?

3. How has Mark Cuban used networking?

4. What types of negotiations has and does Mark Cuban engage in?

5. Is Mark Cuban ethical in influencing others? Can you answer any of these questions? You'll find answers to these questions and learn more about Mark Cuban's businesses and leadership style throughout the chapter.