The Inquisitr » Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban OK With Limited Steroid Use For Injuries

AHN — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:24:52 +0000

Pittsburgh, PA (AHN) – Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly indicated Tuesday that he is not totally against the use of steroids in sports as long as it is administered under proper supervision.

Speaking at a University of Pittsburgh forum Tuesday, the outspoken basketball team owner addressed the topic when asked about the 10-game suspension of Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis during last season’s playoffs.

Lewis allegedly claimed that the elevated testosterone level in the test results were due to an over-the-counter supplement he took which contained a banned substance.

Though Cuban admitted during the forum that he is no expert on the subject, he pulled no punches in saying that steroids could have a legal and useful place in sports.

With proper doctor supervision, it could help athletes recover from injuries as long as there are no long-term health risks involved, he added.

Also in the forum, Cuban, a Pittsburgh-area native, denied speculations linking him in the purchase of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cuban purchased a majority stake in the Mavericks in Jan. 2000 for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr.

Should sports personalities tweet during games?

Joshua Lobdell — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:14:19 +0000

To tweet or not to tweet, today that is really the question. While professional sports league can use sites like Twitter to reach a new generation of fans, and offer a new level of interaction between sports figures and their fans, there is great potential for this interaction to go sideways and teams and leagues may find themselves fighting things in a court of law.

For example lets say I get the chance to host a radio a sports radio show and to more connect with my fans I tweet while I am live on the air. Let us say I get into it with a caller and then Tweet that I though that guy was an _______. Now since I am under the employ of some corporation they are now liable for a slander suit.

When we look at this like that is hardly seems worth it. However many sports leagues are looking at it in a different way, Dallas Mavericks owners was recently fined by the NBA for tweeting about the officials of a game. The NBA does not subscribe to the theory that all press is good press. More to the point the NBA does not want its owners or players criticising its officials live during one of their games.

That is why sooner of later all the major American sports leagues are going to invoke rules against players/owners tweeting while at live games, or maybe even while on any team owned property. What one does at home is their business, but sports leagues will not allow such unrestricted press about their contests.

Mark Cuban targeted because he’s a 9/11 Truther?

Duncan Riley — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:04:49 +0000

The Mark Cuban Insider Trading story has just taken a turn towards bizarre, with new allegations that Cuban was targeted by the SEC for financing a 9/11 truther movie.

The NY Times quotes a person close to Cuban saying that an S.E.C. employee had sent Cuban e-mails several times over the last year or so, accusing him of being unpatriotic. “The bone of contention was Mr. Cuban’s involvement with “Loose Change,” a documentary that accuses the Bush administration of engineering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a pretext for the Iraq war.” Cuban accused the S.E.C. of “prosecutorial misconduct” in his press release responding to the Insider Trading allegations…and the suggestion it that this is what he was referring to.

An S.E.C. spokesman told the paper that the insider-trading investigation was run out of the commission’s Washington headquarters and that the person writing the emails worked out of a regional office and had no role in or knowledge of the investigation.

Here’s one of the emails sent to Cuban:

From: Norris, Jeffrey B.
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Mark Cuban
Cc: Cox, Christopher

Subject: RE: “Lose Change”

I AM SHARING THIS WITH CHAIRMAN COX. NEITHER HE NOR THE COMMISSION ENDORSE MY OPINIONS, BUT IN LIGHT OF YOUR THREAT, I THOUGHT SHOULD SEND THIS TO HIM.

Mark:

If this upsets you, I wonder how George Bush feels. I assume that Mr. Cox would view your involvement with “Loose Change” much as I do. After all, he served his country as a Republican Congressman from Orange County for nearly 20 years and was appointed by President Bush. If you feel like sharing my thoughts with Chairman Cox, be my guest.

Previously, I thought you were merely foolish and naïve. Now, however, I see that you are also a hypocrite. I guess your belief in free speech has severe limitations. If someone else is the victim of an absurd conspiracy theory, you defend your right to participate in smearing the good name of of a patriot like President Bush. But, when you are the subject of a parody of the attack you have endorsed, you suddenly issue threats.

I think I will e-mail this to Chairman Cox myself. I think he will enjoy it. I’m sure he is also a Laker fan.

Since Chairman Cox may not know the background, I will explain. Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and has participated in distributing the vicious and absurd documentary, “Loose Change,” which posits that President Bush planned the demolition of the World Trade Center as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. We have had some past exchanges about my opinion the Mr. Cuban’s support for this project is irresponsible and immoral. Below, I parodied his position that every opinion, no matter how absurd and vicious, deserves to be broadly disseminated.

For another interesting take on the Mark Cuban Insider Trading story, visit MakeYouGoMmm.com, who have dug through Cuban’s old posts relating to mamma.com

(via SAI)

Mark Cuban Charged with Insider Trading

Duncan Riley — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:23:57 +0000

Dot com billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been charged with Insider Trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to a statement from the SEC, the complaint alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com Inc. invited Cuban to participate in the stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential. The complaint further alleges that Cuban knew that the offering would be conducted at a discount to the prevailing market price and that it would be dilutive to existing shareholders.

Cuban has responded on his blog with a set statement from his lawyer, nothing that he can’t say more at this stage:

I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job.
November 17, 2008
RE: SEC Civil Action in the United States District

for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

Mark Cuban today responded to a civil complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. In its complaint, the Commission charges that Mr. Cuban engaged in violations of the federal securities laws in connection with transactions in the securities of Mamma.com Inc.

This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division.

Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”

The SEC investigation has been ongoing for 2 years, and on the surface they would appear to have been thorough in getting to this point. Here’s the statement of facts released by the SEC

STATEMENT OF FACTS

10. In March 2004, Cuban acquired 600,000 shares of Mamma.com, a 6.3% stake in the company. After his acquisition, the company’s chief executive officer and president (”the CEO”) was Cuban’s primary point of contact at Mamma.com.

11. During Spring 2004, Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. (”Merriman”), an investment
bank, suggested that Mamma.com should consider raising capital through a private placement
known as a PIPE (”private investment in public equity”) offering. After consideration, the
company decided to proceed with the PIPE and engaged Merriman to serve as the placement
agent.

12. At the end of June 2004, as the PIPE progressed toward closing, Mamma.com, at
Merriman’s suggestion, decided to invite Cuban, the company’s then-largest known shareholder,
to participate in the PIPE. The CEO was instructed to contact Cuban and to preface the
conversation by informing Cuban that he had confidential information to convey to him in order
to make sure that Cuban understood -before the information was conveyed to him -that he
would have to keep the information confidential.

13. On June 28,2004, the CEO sent an email message to Cuban titled “Call me pls,”
in which he asked Cuban to call him “ASAP” and provided both his cellular and office telephone numbers. Cuban called four minutes later from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, home of
the NBAs Dallas Mavericks, and spoke to the CEO for eight minutes and thirty-five seconds.

14. The CEO prefaced the call by informing Cuban that he had confidential
information to convey to him, and Cuban agreed that he would keep whatever information the
CEO intended to share with him confidential. The CEO, in reliance on Cuban’s agreement to
keep the information confidential, proceeded to tell Cuban about the PIPE offering. Cuban
became very upset and angry during the conversation, and said, among other things, that he did
not like PIPES because they dilute the existing shareholders. At the end of the call, Cuban told
the CEO “Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.”

15. After speaking to Cuban, the CEO told the company’s then-executive chairman
about his conversation with Cuban, including the fact that Cuban was very upset and angry about
the PIPE. Shortly thereafter, the executive chairman sent an email to the other Mamma.com
board members updating them on various PIPE-related items, including the fact that the CEO had
spoken to Cuban:

Today, after much discussion, [the CEO] spoke to Mark Cuban about this equity
raise and whether or not he would be interested in participating. As anticipated he
initially ‘flew off the handle’ and said he would sell his shares (recognizing that
he was not able to do anything until we announce the equity) but then asked to see
the terms and conditions which we have arranged for him to receive from one of the participating investor groups with which he has dealt in the past.

16. In reliance on Cuban’s acceptance of a duty of confidentiality and his
acknowledgement that he could not sell until after the public announcement, the CEO, several ,
hours after their conversation, sent Cuban a follow-up email in which he wrote: “If you want
more details about the private placement please contact .. . [Merriman].” In his email, the CEO
provided the Merriman sales representative’s telephone number.

17. Using that telephone number, Cuban called the Merriman sales representative
later that afternoon and spoke to him for eight minutes about the PIPE. During that call, the
salesman supplied Cuban with additional confidential details about the PIPE. In response to
Cuban’s questions, the salesman told him that the PIPE was being sold at a discount to the
market price and that the offering included other incentives for the PIPE investors. Cuban was
very upset and angry about the PIPE during the call.

18. One minute after hanging up with the Merriman sales representative, Cuban called
his broker in Dallas and told the broker to sell his entire 600,000 share Mamma.com position.
He told the broker “sell what you can tonight and just get me out the next day.”

19. During afier-hours trading on June 28,2004, Cuban sold 10,000 of his 600,000
Mamma.com shares at an average cost per share of $13.499

20. The following morning, June 29,2004, Mamma.com’s executive chairman sent another email to the board. He wrote that “we did speak to Mark Cuban ([the CEO] and, subsequently, our investment banker) to find out if he had any interest in participating to the extent of maintaining his interest. His answers were: he would not invest, he does not want the company to make acquisitions, he will sell his shares which he can not do until after we announce.”

21. On June 23,2004, Cuban sold his remaining 590,000 Marnma.com shares during
regular trading at an average cost per share of $13.2937.

22. On June 29,2004, at 6:00 p.m. after the markets had closed, Marnma.com
publicly announced the PIPE offering.

23. On June 30,2004, the first trading day following the public announcement,
trading in Mamma.com opened at $1 1.89 -down $1.215, or 9.3%, from the June 29,2004
closing price of $13.105. The stock price on June 30,2004 ultimately closed at $1 1.99, down
$1.1 15, or 8.5%, from the June 29,2004 closing price. Mamma.com continued to decline over
the next week, closing at $8.00 on July 8,2004 (down 39% from the June 29,2004 closing
price).

24. By selling his Mamma.com shares prior to the public announcement of the PIPE,
Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000.

25. Cuban later publicly stated that he had sold his Mamma.com shares because the
company was conducting a PIPE, which issued shares at a discount to the prevailing market price
and also would have caused his ownership position to be diluted. Cuban never disclosed to
Mamma.com that he was going to sell his shares prior to the public announcement of the PIPE.
26. Cuban sold his Mamma.com securities on the basis of material, non-public
information he received from the CEO, and, subsequently, from the Merriman sales
representative. Cuban knew or was reckless in not knowing that he had received material, non-
public information from Mamma.com and that he breached a duty of trust or confidence that he
owed to Mamma.com when he sold on the basis of that information.

27. As a result of the conduct described herein, Cuban violated Section 17(a) of the
Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule lob-5 thereunder.

105 Million Reasons Why Mark Cuban is Wrong

Duncan Riley — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:40:06 +0000

Broadcast.com billionaire and trailblazer for online video Mark Cuban wrote Saturday in his the best impression of Andrew Keen that internet video was ideal for snacking, but for the big events, people turn to broadcast television and HD. Cuban argues that “the platform is the message” and that HD television is where the game is at.

The problem with his argument is that he mixes the delivery method with the end result. He makes the presumption that we need broadcast television to obtain the end result of quality programming, but he’s wrong. There’s 105 million reasons today why he’s wrong.

105 million is the number of streamed programs watched on Hulu in July, according to figures released by Nielsen. 105 million times in the United States alone (and Hulu is US only) people watched full television programs on Hulu, a site NewTeeVee notes have only just hired a marketing firm and are said to be about to get $50 million in free promotion from NBC and News Corp. Better still, in terms of online video viewing, Hulu ranks only 8th. The true number of videos watched online is close to 6 billion among the top ten sites in the United States alone. But for the sake of Cuban’s argument, Hulu is the important number, because the site shows primarily television content. Hulu proves in some respect that the platform is the message, but only in demonstrating even further that the switch to online is on.

Then there’s the Olympics, which Cuban uses to prove the sustainability of broadcast television. That NBC’s online coverage is verging on epic fail may be open to argument, but the BitTorrent numbers don’t lie. According to TorrentFreak, the Olympic Opening Ceremony is the highest rating BitTorrent download for the second week in a row, with over 2 million downloads. A small number perhaps in the broader context of Olympic viewer numbers, but a remarkable figure none the less when we consider both the legalities of the download, and the demand for it when there was some legal coverage online. People want content online and are NOT simply using the internet to snack as Cuban suggests. They want the real deal, and as we’ve already covered, the NBA and NFL are both moving to offer live coverage online. If Cuban is right, surely there isn’t demand for live sport to be shown online, and we’d be switching off our computers and turning on our HD widescreen big LCD’s. But the real numbers don’t lie: In the United States, 2.5 million viewers switched off in the spring on 2008, people are spending more time online than watching television, and the average age of a television viewer in the United States is now 50.

The trend is here, and still we sit at the tip of the iceberg in terms of bringing television to the lounge room. There will always be a demand for live sport, in HD, on a big screen television, and yet bringing that content online to the television screen is limited today through cost and technology. And yet it can be done. You can watch television in HD on the internet today. I rented a movie from the iTunes store in HD last week and watched it on my big screen television via an Apple TV. The cost and reach of broadband may cause issues now, but both issues are being addressed, and availability will only improve. Sony is adding Internet access as a feature to its televisions today, and other are sure to follow. We sit at the dawn of internet enabled television boxes, with companies such as Apple and Netflix looking to penetrate into the mainstream.

The switch is clear. The content goes where the viewers are, and increasingly more and more people are switching to the internet. That number will only increase as more content becomes available legally online, and eventually to the point of dominance when that content can be viewed, from a recording or live in the lounge room on a big screen television. Cuban is right that people want to watch live HD sport on the big screen, but he shouldn’t confuse the delivery method with the end product.

Hulu