Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is an investor who lives for his family, his “Shark Tank” companies and the Dallas Mavericks. He is the owner of the 2011 World Champion Dallas Mavericks and bestselling author of “How to Win at the Sport of Business,” and was an entrepreneur from the early age of 12 when he sold garbage bags door to door. Today, Cuban is the highly successful entrepreneur and investor with an ever-growing portfolio of businesses.

A lifelong entrepreneur and investor, Cuban has started and built multiple industry-changing organizations including Costplusdrugs.com, which sells medications at industry low pricing with total cost transparency, which he founded with Dr. Alex Oshmansky. Named a winner of the GQ Men of the Year in 2006 and included in The New York Times Magazine’s Year in Ideas, Cuban is recognized as being among the most influential people in both the cable and sports industries. He may be best known for his purchase of the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 4, 2000. Under his leadership, the team’s home games have become a total entertainment experience.

Prior to his purchase of the Mavericks, Cuban co-founded the first commercial streaming company AudioNet, which became Broadcast.com, the leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet.

Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo! Inc. in July 2000. MicroSolutions, a leading national systems integrator, was co-founded by Cuban and partner Martin Woodall in 1983, and later sold to CompuServe.

In 2001, Cuban founded AXS TV (www.axs.tv) and sister network, HDNet Movies, the very first all high-definition TV network. He also co-owns the Landmark Theater chain, Magnolia Pictures, Magnolia Home Video and 2929 Productions along with partner Todd Wagner. With the release of the movie “Bubble” in 2005, Magnolia and Landmark Theaters pioneered the release of the movie’s “day and date,” meaning the movie was released in theaters, on TV (HDNet Movies) and on DVD all on the same day. Taking this process one step further, Cuban created the Ultra VOD platform, releasing movies to video on demand on both cable and satellite up to four weeks prior to their release in theaters. As an executor producer for 2929 and HDNet Films, Cuban has been nominated for seven Academy Awards® for “Enron,” “The Smartest Guys In the Room” and “Good Night and Good Luck.” He later sold HDNet in 2018.

Follow Cuban on Twitter and at blogmaverick.com.

Shark Tank

“Shark Tank,” the critically acclaimed and multi-Emmy® Award-winning business-themed unscripted series that celebrates entrepreneurship in America, returns to ABC this fall for its 15th season. The hit reality show that has become a culturally defining series and inspires a nation to dream bigger has amassed an amazing $8 billion in retail sales from deals offered in the Tank. The Sharks – tough, self-made, multimillionaire and billionaire tycoons – continue their search to invest in the best businesses and products that America has to offer. The Sharks will once again give people from all walks of life the chance to chase the American dream and potentially secure business deals that could make them millionaires.

The Sharks are billionaire Mark Cuban, owner and chairman of AXS TV and outspoken owner of the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks; real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran; “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner; technology innovator Robert Herjavec; fashion and branding expert Daymond John; and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary. “Shark Tank” will feature a blockbuster lineup of guest Sharks during the 2023-2024 season including the following: Jason Blum, CEO and founder, Blumhouse; Michael Rubin, chairman and CEO, Fanatics; Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, founder of CN2 Ventures, and co-founder of Pizzana; Emma Grede, CEO and co-founder of Good American, and founding partner of SKIMS; and Daniel Lubetzky, founder of KIND Snacks, founder of Camino Partners, and founder of Starts With Us. The guest Sharks will appear individually alongside four other Sharks in various episodes. As in past seasons, “Shark Tank” episodes will have follow-up stories, allowing viewers the opportunity to see how some investments led to success.

The entrepreneurs who dare to enter the Tank must try to convince the Sharks to part with their own hard-earned cash and give them the funding they desperately need to turn their dreams into million-dollar realities. All of the good, bad, emotional and even absurd pitches help showcase the “I wish I had thought of that” business ideas and products. But the Sharks have a goal, too – to get a return on their investment and own a piece of the next big business idea. When the Sharks hear an idea worth sinking their teeth into, they’re more than ready to declare war and fight each other for a piece of it. “Shark Tank” has won four back-to-back Emmys in 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 for Outstanding Structured Reality Program out of 23 Emmy nominations over 14 seasons. More recently, the show received an Emmy nomination in 2023 for Structured Reality program. “Shark Tank” won the NATPE 2015 and 2017 Reality Breakthrough Award, and in 2016, the BANFF World Media Festival Award and the IRTS Hall of Mentorship Award. Additional recognition includes three Summer Television Critics Association (TCA) nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming (winning in 2013), four Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Reality Series (winning in 2016, 2015 and 2014), NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Reality Series in 2014 and 2015, a Kids Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show nomination in 2015 and 2017, and four Producers Guild Award nominations. Viewers will continue to ride an emotional roller coaster this season, complete with heated fights between the Sharks, ingenious business ideas and touching moments. Whichever way the wheeling and dealing may go, many people’s lives will be better off – because they dared to enter the unpredictable waters of the “Shark Tank.” Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill, Yun Lingner, Max Swedlow, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Phil Gurin and Brandon Wallace are the executive producers of “Shark Tank,” which is based on the Japanese “Dragons’ Den” format, created by Nippon Television Network Corporation. The series is produced by MGM Television in association with Sony Pictures Television.