Here’s How Mark Cuban Protected His $1.4 Billion Fortune From the 2000 Dot-Com Crash – ‘One of the Top 10 Wall Street Trades of All Time’

In the late 1990s, Mark Cuban and his business partner Todd Wagner pioneered online streaming with their company Broadcast.com. They were ahead of the curve, offering what we now recognize as audio and video streaming long before YouTube and other platforms existed. By 1999, their innovative project caught the attention of Internet giant Yahoo, leading to a massive acquisition deal.

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Yahoo acquired Broadcast.com for a staggering $5.7 billion in stock, instantly making the Cuban a billionaire as he owned about a third of the company. But Cuban wasn’t about to let his new fortune ride the unpredictable waves of the dot-com bubble.

Even as the Internet frenzy was in full swing, Cuban felt the market was unsustainable. Tech company valuations were rising, but he knew it couldn’t last forever. Instead of getting carried away by the hype, he decided to protect his massive Yahoo stock.

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Just weeks after Cuban’s smart move, the dot-com bubble burst and the market crashed. As he told Howard Stern on his show, Yahoo’s stock fell from about $300 to just $5. If Cuban had kept his shares, he would have seen his $1.4 billion stake plummet, potentially losing billions.

Mark Cuban’s ability to see the risks and act when others were caught up in the excitement of the tech boom led to what is now known, in his words, as “one of the top 10 deals of all time on Wall Street “. While some of his friends and colleagues who also owned Yahoo stock didn’t follow his advice and lost a lot of money, Cuban’s careful planning ensured he kept his fortune.

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As Yahoo’s stock briefly rallied, some people wondered if he missed out by selling his stock early, but Cuban didn’t second-guess his decision. He famously said, “I’ve got two and a half billion – how much do you need?” This shows how he focused on keeping his money safe rather than getting greedy. It’s a smart move that makes sense, especially in uncertain markets.

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While most of us are not billionaires like Cubans, we can still draw parallels from his experience during the dot-com crash. It should serve as a stark reminder of why protecting our money is essential, especially in unpredictable markets like the ones we’ve seen a few weeks ago. Even though the markets have now recovered, his strategy offers important lessons for anyone looking to keep their investments safe from future crashes.

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This article Here’s How Mark Cuban Protected His $1.4 Billion Fortune From the 2000 Dot-Com Crash – “One of Wall Street’s 10 Best Deals of All Time” originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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