Mark Cuban

One of the highest profiled billionaires in America, Mark Cuban parlayed his talents in the computer software field into the wildly successful MicroSolutions, which allowed him to invest in and found a wide range of companies and interests, including the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, HDNet, Magnolia Pictures and numerous other technological and sports-related companies. An aggressive businessman with an unquenchable need to speak his mind, Cuban was frequently assailed in the press and by National Basketball Association (NBA) officials for his furious courtside comments on players, coaches and league officials. His outsized personality allowed him to offset the negative publicity and fines generated by his outbursts, and the public generally viewed him as a likable, passionate figure whose ire was sparked by the same bad calls that perturbed the guys in the cheap seats. That likability, however accurate, gained him on-camera access to television, where he served as the host of the short-lived "The Benefactor"(ABC, 2004) and a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ) before joining the panel of entrepreneurs on "Shark Tank" (ABC, 2009- ). Whether viewed as an all-American businessman or a glory-hungry corporate raider with questionable taste, there was little to detract from the notion that Cuban was among the most successful businessmen of the 20th and early 21st centuries.