Mark Cuban, now worth $10 billion and known as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a Shark Tank investor, paid for his junior year of college through a dorm-room chain letter scheme. In the early 1980s at Indiana University, Cuban set up the chain letter by asking one person for $100 and promising to take $50 while circulating the rest among participants, calling it “basically a scam,” he said in a 2024 podcast.
Cuban explained that the chain letter worked by moving each participant’s name up a list until they reached the top, at which point they would receive multiple $50 payments from others. He ensured his friends got their money back, and when he reached the top of the list, he received envelopes with $50 payments from various people. This method helped him cover his college expenses during that year, despite the scheme’s questionable nature.
The chain letter scheme reflects Cuban’s early entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to take risks to fund his education. While such schemes are often illegal or unethical, Cuban’s approach was more informal and limited to his dormitory circle. This story adds context to Cuban’s rise from a working-class background to a billionaire investor, illustrating unconventional methods used before his mainstream success.
Cuban shared this story on the San Francisco Standard’s Life in Seven Songs podcast in 2024, highlighting how the chain letter helped him pay for college. Today, he is recognized as a major figure in business and sports, with a net worth of $10 billion, demonstrating a dramatic transformation from his early hustling days.