Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is a prominent American businessman and television personality, best known as the former principal owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a long-time "shark" on the hit reality show Shark Tank (2012–2025). Growing up in a working-class Jewish family in Pittsburgh, he showed early entrepreneurial grit by selling garbage bags at age 12 and running newspapers during a strike at just 16. After graduating from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in 1981, he co-founded MicroSolutions and later Broadcast.com, selling the latter to Yahoo! in 1999, which made him a billionaire. His tenure with the Mavericks, which included an NBA Championship in 2011, was marked by both passionate leadership and notable disputes with league management, while his wider investments span technology, media, and philanthropy. As of January 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth at a staggering $6 billion.