[tps_title]22. Mark Cuban[/tps_title]
The Dallas Mavericks owner has created an empire around both his mega riches and explosive, controversial personality. His outspoken blog has earned him several fines from NBA Commissioner David Stern and his business ventures have brought him fabulous success. It wasn’t always so rosy for Cuban, however. He grew up in a Jewish working class family (his father was an automobile upholsterer. in a Pittsburgh suburb, where the young boy’s first foray into business was selling trash bags to raise money for expensive basketball sneakers. From this small speed sprang a lifetime of business ambition, culminating in the founding and sale of an Internet company that led to his purchase of the Mavericks basketball team.
Cuban is now set for life, a billionaire by age 49 who is also a founding owner of the HDNet cable network.
