WEBVTT - Mark Cuban 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:05.280 Some very special programming today featuring billionaire Mark Cuban on 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:07.760 how he made his money and then lost it and 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:11.560 then made even more. You know, you know, Cuban made 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:13.760 some of his money betting against some of the companies 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.440 that he did business with. And of course we'll also 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.159 hear from about owning a basketball team and how he 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.360 didn't care if he overpaid for it. And David Rubinstein, 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.840 host of the David Rubinstein Show Peer to Peer Conversations, 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.920 begins here by kind of going through all of Cubans successes. 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.120 Let's listen in Mark, let me ask you this um 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.879 you have at an early age made some money, and 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.159 then you made an enormous amount of money when you 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:43.279 sold broadcast dot Com to Yahoo, made you know, over 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.320 a billion dollars, and then you bought a basketball team. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.639 Then you have a Shark Tank series that's very successful, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.559 one Emmy award. You're well regarded by entrepreneurs all over 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.440 the world. Presidents the United States call you for advice. 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.320 What is wrong with this life? I mean, there's something 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:04.880 about your life. It isn't perfect. I have kids. I 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.600 have a sixteen year old daughter and a fourteen year 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.920 old daughter. That's all any parent needs to hear it 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.160 doesn't matter what you have or what you don't have. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.080 The minute my oldest daughter turned fifteen, my wife and 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:20.240 I got really stupid, lost half our brain capacity and 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.280 are beholden to our kids for their with It's you know, 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.920 being a parent is a challenge and um it's very 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.560 humbling as ever as everybody knows. Well. I have three 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:32.840 children as well, and I agree. So you grew up 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.199 in Pittsburgh, but not from a wealthy and a wealthy family, 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.720 is that right? No? My my dad did a poultry 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.120 on cars, my mom did our jobs. He went to 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.120 University of Pittsburgh. I was always into business, just how 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.600 I've been since as long as I can remember. And 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.920 my high school wouldn't let me take business classes, and 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.360 so as a as a junior, as a sophomore junior, 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.920 there were only senior level economics classes, and so just 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.440 despite them, I started taking classes at night and my 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.800 junior year and then dropped out of high school for 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:03.960 my senior year, went to the University of Pittsburgh and 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.960 took classes there. But then you went to Indiana University. 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.120 Why didn't you go to Indiana Because pitt didn't have 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.880 a full undergrad business program. And I saw a list 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.800 of the top ten undergrad programs and picked out the 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.280 cheapest one, and it was Indiana and I went there 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.040 site unseen. Now. When you were there, you started a 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.200 bar and it was a very successful bar, well kind 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.239 of successful. So my I always like my parents to 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.320 pay for my school. My dad sent me twenty bucks 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.280 a month, and I had to figure out how to 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.080 pay for things one way or the other. Um. Sometimes 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.480 I was able to get scholarships, other times, you know, 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.280 just saving money from jobs I had. Other times it 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:41.959 was a hustle. So when you graduated, you moved to Dallas. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.080 Why did you move to Dallas. I had a bunch 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.320 of buddies down there that we're living that had gone 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.120 to Indiana and moved to Dallas. And I was talking 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.520 to one, my buddy, Greg Shipper, on the phone and 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.680 he's like, Mark, the weather is great, the women are beautiful, 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:56.680 the economy is good. And I'm like, wait, back up, 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.559 I'm coming. But you ultimately start today kind of technology 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.120 consulting firm. Is that what it was? Well, what happened 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.880 was when I first got there and I was sleeping 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:07.880 in the what we called at the hill hotel with 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.000 my five roommates. Um, I got a job at night 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:14.160 working as a bartender slash far back, and then during 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.800 the day I applied for jobs and finally got a 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.480 job selling software at this company called Your Business Software, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.240 which I did for nine months until I got fired, 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.640 and so I started my own company, micro Solutions, which 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.320 at the time was when we started, was just a 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.480 PC consulting company. And you ultimately sold that for a 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.160 couple of million dollars or or so well. I sold 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.280 it seven years later for six million dollars, of which 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.040 a million went to all the employees, two million went 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.200 to a partner that I brought in, and two million 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.360 came to me and then some Texas. All right, so 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.320 you've got two million dollars, which is a king's ransom 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.320 in those days for somebody your age. Right, Yeah, I was, 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.520 you know, twenty nine. Actually by the time I closed, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.760 I was thirty and so I just thought I was 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:57.600 the luckiest guy and the richest guy in the world. 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.240 This is ninety nine. In my mind, I was just 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.440 gonna take time off my driving force was. I wanted 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.720 to retire by the time I was thirty five, because 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.000 you know, one thing that my dad had always really 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.240 you know, taught me and and really emphasized me is 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.200 the one asset you can never own or get back 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.040 his time, and so, you know, enjoy the time while 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.560 you're young, take advantage of it. You know, his job 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.320 was backbreaking. He lost an eye in an accident at work. 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.040 You know, he did upholstery, and a stable broke and 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.480 and and destroyed his his right eye, and and so, 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.560 you know, and he would take me to work sometimes 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.960 and make me sweep the floor because he wanted me 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.280 to see the type of work he did not want 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.000 me to do. And so when I you know, my 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.680 goal was to retire so I can just enjoy my life. 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.840 And so we sold microsolutions, and I literally retired by 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.239 the lifetime pass and American Airlines just traveled the world 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.600 and partied like a rock star, um, you know, for 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.760 the next few years. So after you retired at the 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.200 age of thirty or so, he ultimately came up with 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:02.280 an idea which was to listen to Indiana University basketball 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.599 games on I guess a kind of streaming process is that. 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.520 Right by the time I sold micro solutions, you know, 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.159 I was really tech heavy. I mean, I we were 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.360 one of the largest systems integrators. I taught myself the program. 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.520 We did local and wide area network, so I got 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.760 to understand networking and technology really well. I made a 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.560 lot of money actually afterwards, just trading technology stocks because 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:26.880 back then it was so much easier, you know. I'd 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.560 call up Rick Sherlan who had Goldman Sachs or you 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.360 know Lee Ainsley before he was even at Maverick Capital, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.119 and we would just swap ideas and I knew more 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.880 about all the details of tech and what worked and 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.000 what did work, and what companies were doing well, and 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.840 ended up making tens of millions of dollars doing that. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.520 I then got together with my buddy Todd Wagner, who 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.920 I knew from Indiana. He actually came to me with 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.240 the idea. He was like, this new internet thing. You 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.400 understand technology? Is there any way that we can listen 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.440 to Indiana basketball um using the Internet? And I was like, 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:04.280 that's a cool idea. And this was early, and I'm like, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.800 let's try to figure it out. And literally starting with 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:12.000 a Packard Bell PC that I bought for like four grand, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.240 three or four grand at best Buy or something or 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.960 comp Usa in the second bedroom in my house. I 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.120 just sat there and tried to figure out how we 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.880 would do this. And it went from you know, ten 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.960 people the first week to a hundred to a thousand, 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.240 to thousands, and we knew we had something within thirty days. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.760 But you took the company public, Is that right? Yeah? 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.280 July eighteenth and n and the stock zoomed. Uh. I 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.520 hate to use the word zoom, but uh, it went 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.280 up a lot. Yeah, the largest one day, largest first 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.279 day I p O bump in the history of the 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.600 stock market at the time. Right. So, did you say 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.239 I'm gonna build this company forever and just keep growing 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.080 or does somebody come along and say I'll buy it 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.159 from you? Well, the goal was to dominate because you know, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.160 we called it netcasting at the time, and this was 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:59.560 pre YouTube, and literally we were the dominant force and streaming. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.119 You know, we had rights to all the major sports leagues. 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:07.839 We had you know, hundreds of radio stations, um by 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.120 We were doing video as well, and we bought ten 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.040 percent of what turned out to be lions Gate Studios. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.880 We bought you know, video rights to all these libraries 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.920 and so you know, we're making acquisitions. We really were 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.120 on the path to dominate UM, and we had UM. 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.960 Yahoo had invested in us the previous year and came 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:31.880 to us and said, you know, we want to buy you. 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.679 We need to get into multimedia, and you're the leader. 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.280 Let's combined forces. And they made us an offer we 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.160 couldn't refuse. They offered I think roughly fire or you 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:44.800 ultimately the five point seven billion dollars in points. So 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.600 you didn't own all five point seven billion yourself. I 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:49.640 guess you had some outside investors and other people, but 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.680 you have with about thirty of it. It was taxable 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:54.880 the way it was structured ended up being taxable on 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.920 the on the games. But um, yeah, it turned out 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.680 to it turned out well. Yeah, here's the question I've 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.680 always had, and uh, why is it that you had 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:07.760 the foresight or how did you have the foresight to 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.880 sell the Yahoo stock at a time when the markets 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.800 were going up, people thought, yeah, who would be going 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.480 up forever? You sold your Yahoo stock and cashed out 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.920 before yeah who went down? By Well I actually hedged 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.480 it right. So remember I mentioned that I had traded 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.320 stocks between the time I saw my first company did really, really, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:29.760 really well, and I watched complete industries just skyrocket and 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.760 then collapse. You know, there were there were companies when 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.319 Dell Computer went public, there there were ten other PC 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.040 companies that crashed and burn. I've seen it multiple times. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:41.800 And I made money going up, and I made money 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.240 shorting them on the way down. And so I was 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.160 very clear to Golden Sacks at the time that I 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.880 wanted to to do a hedge. And so the first 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.840 thing I did because I had a six month moratorium 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.840 where I couldn't do anything, and so I took literally 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:02.400 almost every penny. I had twenty some million dollars um 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.480 and but um puts on an index and Internet index, 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.160 and I lost all my money on that on that hedge, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.000 literally just all gone. Which was good because that got 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.960 me to the point where Yahoo was still a high 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.800 flyer and I sold covered calls and bought puts over 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.720 the next three years, and that hedge saved me and 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.360 actually made me money. But you you lost the first 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.439 twenty million. Yep, what did your wife say? Oh No, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.480 I wasn't married at the time, and it was it was, 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.040 you know, but the whole it was timed out right. 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:38.920 So I got through the six months, even though I 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.160 lost the money on that hedge. We already knew approximately, 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.840 you know, based off of where the Yahoo stock was, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.760 how I'd be able to and what the volatility levels were, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.320 how I was gonna be able to sell calls on 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:55.360 my Yahoo stock and use that money to buy UM 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.400 buy puts on UM the Yahoo stock, and when the 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.520 stock apps, my poots were worth a fortune. You bought 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:07.400 the Dallas basketball team, the Mavericks, for roughly two million dollars, 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:09.360 which at the time was thought to be a lot 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.000 of money. Today it's a fraction of what it's worth. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.120 Why what propelled you to buy a basketball team? So 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.160 I've always been a basketball junkie as long as I 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.880 can remember, And so I was the Dallas Mavericks season 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.920 ticket holder. And during that time that I owned season tickets, 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.800 they were awful. I mean all of the nineties. They 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:29.640 were voted the worst professional sports franchise of the nineties. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.880 And I'll never forget. It was the thousand season open 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.240 opener and we're undefeated, right, I mean, I'm a season 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.600 ticket holder, I'm decided to go to the game. It 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.080 wasn't a sell out. There was no energy in the crowd. 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.240 And you know, I just sold broadcast dot Com and 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.520 I thought I can do better than this, and then 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.600 it donned to meet. Wait, I can put my money 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.360 where my mouth is. Finally, and you know, not just 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.240 say it, but enquire about buying it. And from late 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:01.640 October when it first the concept first him up um, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.600 it took till January four to close the deal. And honestly, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.600 I didn't even care about price. They told me here's 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.959 the price. I said yes because realized that I still 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.559 had my hedge on for Yahoo and I still benefited 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.040 when Yahoo stock went up. So there were days still 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.000 then when this is before the Internet bubble collapse. I 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:25.400 remember being on the team bus um in January talking 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.439 to the coaches and I'm like, why did you spend 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.600 so much money? This is the worst franchise in all 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.520 the NBA. The you know, the revenues are lower than 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.600 everybody else. I'm like, let me, you know, let me 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.520 just show you the price of y'allho It went up 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:39.920 a hundred dollars or two hundred dollars today and that 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.600 paid for the whole team. So when you when you 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.880 buy a basketball team and get to play with the players, 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.600 can you work out with them or they don't? Really 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.080 I like you to do that up until obviously the 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.720 changes with this season. Before every home game, I would go, 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.679 I go on the court and get shots up. There's nothing, 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.480 you know, crazier and to me as a basketball a junkie, 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.760 exciting that to have, you know, an arena and you're 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.439 out there shooting, and you know, there were a lot 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.319 of times over the years where I play one on 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.440 one with the players, or I shoot for money with 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.880 the players and shoot threes, and they don't. They don't 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.800 ease up when you're when you're playing with them, they 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:17.280 don't ease up a little bit to let you win 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.120 because you're the owner. No, hell no, these are you know, 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.880 because realize the other side of it. If I beat them, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.199 they'll never hear the end of it. And then you know, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.760 there's just no way, no way. Now in your early 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.840 the years as an owner, you're owning team now for 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.600 twenty years, and the early years of the owner and 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.120 maybe even recently, you've been um find a lot by 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.040 the league, maybe more than any other owner for criticizing 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.720 the referees, criticizing the league. Um, what was all that about? 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.320 Did you do that on purpose because you wanted attention 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.120 or did you just couldn't constrain yourself. No, it was 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.240 because I wanted to approve the league. I mean when 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.319 I first got to the NBA, they didn't know what product, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.959 what their product was. They always thought that we sold basketball, 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:00.000 and I was very clear to them that we don't 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.559 sell basketball. We sell experiences. You know, if you think 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.640 about the sporting events that you've gone to, you know, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.680 you don't remember the score, the touchdowns, the dunks, the jumpers. 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.240 You you remember who you were with, you know, the 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.720 first time a parent took you, the first time you 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.440 went with you know, your friends, or you know the 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.439 time you know you had your your buddy's bachelor party 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.360 or the first date there. They didn't realize that's what 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.680 we sold. And so you know, it took a lot 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:30.600 of you know, aggression, I guess from both sides, you know, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.880 a lot of a lot of going back and forth 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:39.160 with then Commissioner David Stern, you know. But to his credit, um, 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.040 while he had to find me, you know, privately, he 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.079 would agree with me on a lot of those things, 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.640 you know, And so to me, I was just being 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:48.560 a good partner, even though a lot of my partners 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.440 didn't really appreciate it. Well, in the early days, you 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:53.280 were a very young owner. Now you have an owner 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:54.920 for twenty years, you may be one of the more 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.080 experienced owners. Do you get people now listening to you 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.640 more than they did twenty years ago? Yeah, they're used 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:02.480 to me. Like you said, I'm one of the longer 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:06.520 term term owners, and so you know, I'll still raise 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.960 hell and and and speak up. But now they're kind 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:10.920 of used to me, and they've changed a lot. A 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.320 lot of things have changed, you know, whether how we 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.880 approach officiating, to how we market our games, to what 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:21.000 we do for broadcasts. Um, there's just so much that 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.600 has changed over the twenty years for the better. Now, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.880 the NBA is playing in bubble in Orlando. How is 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.920 that working out? And are you, um surprised and it's 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.320 worked out reasonably well or you think it can be 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:35.800 done better or what what your view? I mean, it's 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.000 it's shocking how well it's gone. I mean, there's so 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.000 much risk, you know, just bringing such a large group 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.240 of people, thousands of people together in one area, um, 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:52.400 and you know, and to have zero cases, that's stunning, stunning. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.800 I mean literally were you know, we were concerned about 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.200 what might happen you know, because primarily you're talking about 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.320 population and the twenty somethings, and as you can see 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.240 outside the bubble, just you know, people twenty somethings in 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.320 any city, they're not the most conscientious when it comes 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.880 to wearing masks and so following social distancing and other protocols. 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.720 And so you know, to to our players and staff 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.640 and Disney and the n b A, to their credit, 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:22.640 everybody has been really, really careful and it's paid off. 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.400 Dirk Nawinski was one of your star players for want 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.720 a long time of European. You have a couple of 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.400 other Europeans now who are stars as well. Um, one 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:32.960 of them, like you traded you got from the New 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.800 York Uh next I think uh in a trade that 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:40.560 President Trump UH commended you on that I recall. So, um, 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.240 let me ask you this, So, when are you going 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.720 to recruit more Jewish basketball players in the NBA. Yeah, 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.840 I don't care if they're from Mars, right, you know, 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:51.600 if they wear a kimba during the game, I'm fine 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.240 with that too. I don't care. You know, just what 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:59.000 ever ever ever works, I just want to win. You know, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.280 you have a very much of an every man image 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.080 where you're like an average Joe. You're a basketball fan, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.000 so worth. But the truth is you have a lot 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.800 of technology background a lot of uh sophisticated financial backgrounds. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.120 So you haven't kind of portrayed that the way. You know, 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.000 Bill Gates as seen as a technology guy, and maybe 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.960 Jeff Bezos is. But you have a lot of technology 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.320 knowledge which you don't kind of advertise as much, but 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.160 clearly you you know the technology work at the time. 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.240 Right when I worked at your business software before I 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.800 got fired, it became very clear to me that when 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.960 it came to technology, there were two people, two types 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.359 of people. There are the people who created the technology, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.040 and then there was everybody else. And I was tied 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.880 for with everybody else in terms of knowledge of any 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.560 new technology that came out. And if I put in 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.880 the time and you know, put in the effort to 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.160 learn about that technology, no matter what it was, I 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.560 was going to move ahead of the maybe never catch 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.680 the person or the people who created the tech, but 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.920 I'd be ahead of everybody else. And that's always been 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.600 my mantra and I tried to stick to that today 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.480 as you are talking to us today, you you have 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.959 many different businesses. But you have a big investment business, 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.000 and you've said publicly that you're a gigantic investor in 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.760 Amazon and Netflix and other companies. And do you just 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.439 have advisors that help advise you on these or you 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.600 just make your own decisions? Pretty much make my own decisions. Yeah, 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.119 I mean I used to trade, as mentioned, Um, I 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.480 used to trade a lot. I used to be very 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.159 very active as a trader. And you know back you know, 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.440 back in the nineties and early two thousands, there was 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.120 a lot less money chasing more stocks, and now there's 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.600 a lot more money chasing fewer stocks. So, um, it's 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.200 harder to trade and be successful. So I just stick 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.240 to the companies I believe in. You know, I've owned 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.560 Netflix since it was fifty and and Amazon I was 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.800 mine between five hundred and seven hundred and actually bought 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.640 some more in the high thousands, just under two thousand. UM. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.680 But I've got some scattered things, you know, beyond that 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.000 that I've owned over the years that I've held on too. 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.159 But I don't. I no longer trade. You know that 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.960 fed put is strong that that you know that fed 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.720 um inflation of financial assets kind of gives us a 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.720 tail wind now COVID you have said has changed the 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.960 world in terms of opportunities. Uh, it's obviously hurt people, 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.360 but it's obviously helped people who are entrepreneurial. So you've said, 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.960 this is a good time to actually figure out new businesses, 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.000 new areas of business. Is that fair statement? Yeah, you know, 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.000 it's so unfortunate, but it's true. I mean, you know, 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.480 we've heard Warren Buffett say, you know, by when there's 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:34.080 blood in the streets, and it's almost analogous here. So 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.720 many small businesses are closing, so many you know, retail 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:42.879 stores are closing malls or are you know, going bankrupt um. 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.200 Companies that are unable to transition to to selling digitally 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.400 or or really taking a full advantage of e commerce 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.440 are struggling. Big companies don't understand, don't really aren't sure 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.720 about how to protect our legacy businesses. That type of 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.280 uncertainty creates a lot of opportunity, and combine that with 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.680 people becoming far more comfortable with purchasing online and living 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.719 a digital lifestyle. I think there's a lot of unique 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.440 opportunities that are available to people who who who are creative, 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.199 who have a vision for the future, I think, you know, 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.720 ten years, we'll look back and they'll be ten thirty 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.960 world class companies that were created by people who we 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.000 probably think are thinking are crazy right about now. So 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.000 you had a relationship with President Trump at one point, 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.239 I think when he was first thinking and running. This 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.480 was after he announced and thinking he had no chance 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.240 to win whatsoever. Um, I'm made a public statement saying 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.680 I think Donald Trump is the best thing to ever 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.639 happen to politics. He's not a traditional politician, and he 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.720 says what's on his mind, and that got picked up everywhere, 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.840 and I became his new best friend, and so he 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.960 would call me all the time, all the time, um, 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.080 and just you know, that's who he is until I 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.760 said one day that I didn't think he was qualified, 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:00.639 and then it was all downhill from the So he 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.639 never invited you to the White House. No, actually he 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:09.399 did recently, but you know, everything Donald Trump touches, you know, 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.800 turns into a mess. So I didn't accept the offer. 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.040 Now you've said you might consider running for president. In fact, 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:16.879 you had a poster, look at it. Why did you 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.040