When Mark Cuban sells a business, he always sets aside proceeds for one purpose: sharing with employees. “In every business I’ve sold I’ve paid out bonuses to every employee that was there more than a year,” Cuban posted on social media platform X. When Broadcast.com sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999, 300 of 330 employees became millionaires.
This practice began after selling his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million in 1990. Cuban paid out 20% to 80 employees. He repeated this with HDNet and the Dallas Mavericks, noting only HDNet had layoffs post-sale.
Cuban’s first success, MicroSolutions, nearly failed when his secretary stole $82,000, but it bounced back. “You have to hustle the most when you think it’s the darkest,” he said.
In 1995, Cuban took over AudioNet, later Broadcast.com. Despite scepticism, he sold it and quickly cashed out Yahoo stock, avoiding the dot-com bubble burst. “When you just chase dollars, it never works out well,” he told GQ.
Last year, Cuban sold a majority stake in the Mavericks for around $3.5 billion, retaining 27% and basketball operations control. He bought the team in 2000 for $285 million without negotiating. “It was all about fun,” he said.
Cuban’s net worth is $5.4 billion, according to Forbes.
