Mark Cuban Interview On Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship: Young Investors Society

Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban recently sat down for an interview with the Young Investors Society.  In it, they talked about a wide range of topics focused on business: entrepreneurship, investing, risk, and more.  Here's some highlights:


- "I avoid risk by trying to know more about what I'm trying to do than anybody."

- Talked about advocating the Peter Lynch method of investing by focusing on what you know.  He was always using tech hardware and knew which companies' products worked and which didn't.  Parlayed that into a hedge fund based on his research/picks and then sold that.  Noted there's less companies going public these days so "there's more money chasing fewer choices."

- On what he thinks is going to be different in 5-10 years: "Artificial intelligence is gonna eat the world."

- Owns a lot of Amazon.com (AMZN) stock.  Mainly because they're involved in a lot of the areas he was discussing (A.I. etc)

- Also a previous article said he owns a lot of Netflix (NFLX).  In the interview, Cuban talked about how their content aggregation and focus on data allowed them to be able to recommend content to users.  (And then they obviously took that a step further by seeing what was being watched the most and then created their own content based on those metrics.)

- Big time screw ups in investing: he liked the Uber idea but didn't like how they were pricing it.  "Sometimes you make it and sometimes you miss 'em."

- "There's a hundred apps that let you sell your time."  Thinks there's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.

- On being an analyst:  "Everyone has the same information so it's hard to package it uniquely.  Find the companies where you may have an edge.  Using your unique perspective is what I did when I started investing in stocks."  He talked about how a high school kid's viewpoint on companies like Snapchat or Twitter would be vastly different than someone who's in their 40's or 50's.

- On advice for young investors:  "Understand the hierarchy of return on investment.  Investing in stocks is not the first place you should invest.  Number one is pay off your debt.  Two: save some money.  Life doesn't match up to your returns.  You might have the best investment in the world but find yourself having to sell it to pay for school or to fix your car.  Always have some savings first."

Embedded below is the video of Mark Cuban's interview with Young Investors Society:



h/t A Wealth of Common Sense for the find

Mark Cuban ~ Quote of the Week

Continuing the Market Folly quote of the week, we give you something recent from Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, entrepreneur, and active individual investor. Our previous quotes have included those from Warren Buffett as well as wisdom from Seth Klarman. Here's Cuban's response when asked about the best investing advice he could give:

"Unless you think you've done more research and have better insight on a stock than a multibillion-dollar hedge fund, why are you trading? Know why others are buying when you're selling and vice versa ... When I started trading, I tended to become attached to stocks rather than doing the work to ensure I had enough information to make a good decision."

~ Mark Cuban


Our past coverage of Cuban includes his stake in Lions Gate Entertainment, which he has since tendered to Carl Icahn.

Mark Cuban Discloses Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) Stake; Carl Icahn Raises His Bid

If you thought the Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) situation couldn't get anymore interesting, leave it to Mark Cuban to possibly throw a wrench in Carl Icahn's plans. The billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks recently filed a 13D with the SEC revealing a 5.4% ownership stake in Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) with 6,369,315 shares. In total, Cuban purchased $27,897,430 worth of LGF.

Additionally, in the fine print, we see that Cuban "has sold to counterparties the right to put to him 2,000,000 shares of common stock at a price of $7.50 per share, if exercised prior to or on January 22, 2011." If those puts were to be exercised, Cuban's stake in LGF would then rise to 7.1%. Since he has sold puts (instead of buying them), this is not a hedge to his position, but rather a bullish wager. Below is a breakdown of Cuban's purchases as he started buying in late March and continued into early April:

(click to enlarge)

While Cuban has only disclosed he purchased for "investment purposes," keep in mind that a 13D filing signals an activist stake so Cuban could possibly have something up his sleeve here. And speaking of activism, you'll remember that corporate raider Carl Icahn has been trying to acquire Lions Gate Entertainment and initially bid $6 per share for the company. Well, late yesterday Icahn raised his offer for LGF to $7 per share and has insisted that management be replaced. Shares were up over 8% after hours yesterday on the news. You can read Icahn's letter to shareholders here.

So, who knows if we'll have a battle of billionaires here, but Cuban could feasibly just be playing the arbitrage in Icahn's possible takeover. The fact that Cuban filed a 13D certainly gives him the option to get involved though. Additionally, you'll recall that Cuban has a history of investing in various companies in the movie industry. As such, we'll continue to watch the developments here. In the mean time, you can view the latest portfolio moves from Icahn, as well as read Icahn's investor letter.

Taken from Google Finance, Lions Gate Entertainment is "the studio with a presence in production and distributions of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company released approximately 18 to 20 motion pictures theatrically per year, which include films it develops and produces in-house, as well as films that it acquires from third parties."

Mark Cuban Files 13G on Reading International (RDI)

We don't track Mark Cuban on the blog, but we saw this and thought it was interesting. Cuban has recently disclosed a 10.5% stake in Reading International (RDI) through a 13G filed with the SEC. He now owns 157,411 shares. Cuban of course is well known for his ownership of the NBA franchise Dallas Mavericks. He is also a decently active investor as he sometimes discusses the markets on his blog. And, in the past, Cuban also funded a hedge fund (Precept Capital) based on his tech background which he later sold. For a list of hedge funds that we track on a daily basis, check our portfolio tracking series to get the latest updates.

Taken from Google Finance, Reading International is "an internationally diversified company principally focused on the development, ownership and operation of entertainment and real property assets in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The Company operates in two business segments: Cinema Exhibition, through its 58 multiplex theatres, and Real Estate, including real estate development and the rental of retail, commercial and live theatre assets."

Photo courtesy of AP/photo/Todd Breckenridge