Mark Cuban may have a net worth north of $5 billion, but when it came time to split the check with his dad, the math didn’t matter.
In a 2019 appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Cuban shared that his father, Norton Cuban, “did upholstery on cars and I don’t think he ever made more than $40,000 in a year.” Still, that never stopped him from grabbing the dinner bill—even after his son became one of the richest entrepreneurs in America.
“He was dad,” Cuban said plainly. “If we went out to dinner, he was pulling out the credit card no matter what. The minute I said, ‘Dad,’ he just looked at me with a death stare like, ‘Don’t even think that you’re going to pay for dinner.'”
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And he meant it.
The billionaire investor admitted it felt “weird” out-earning his father by tens of millions, but the old-school respect never faded. Norton wasn’t interested in who had more zeros in their bank account—he was interested in being dad.
Cuban’s respect for his father runs deep. At 14, he spent time working with Norton in auto upholstery—not to learn the craft, but to learn that punching a clock for someone else meant giving up your time. “His time was never his own,” Cuban recalled in a CNBC interview. “He wanted me to create my own path.”
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So Cuban did. And when he eventually pulled in $100,000 in a single year, he shared the milestone with his dad, who immediately started crying.
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Still, Cuban said the best thing he ever bought his dad wasn’t a fancy car or house—it was a trip. That’s what stuck.
“My dad is 87. He’s going strong, he’s a machine,” Cuban told the crowd at SXSW in 2014. Then he shared Norton’s favorite piece of advice:
“Today’s the youngest you’re ever going to be. You’ve got to live like it. You’ve got to live young every day.”
Norton Cuban passed away in 2018 at 92, but clearly, his lessons didn’t go anywhere.
Billionaire or not, Mark Cuban’s still trying to live young, and maybe—just maybe—pick up the check once in a while. Though if his dad were around, that stare might still shut it down.
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