Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American entrepreneur. He is the owner of the NBA basketball team the Dallas Mavericks, owner of Landmark Theatres, and Chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet. Mark Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, in a Jewish working class family. The family's last name had been shortened from Chabenisky when his grandparents immigrated from Russia to America. Cuban's father Norton was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes. 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 attending 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 in Bloomington, Indiana and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.