On occasion, it’s tough to hold off on spending after receiving a hefty sum of money, and even the renowned Mark Cuban from Shark Tank found it difficult to resist the impulse to indulge.
Indeed, the only thing standing between you and Cuban is a fortune, making him just another person at heart.
Like many, he too has moments where he can’t help but spend a significant amount on something a bit out of the ordinary.
Before his time as a billionaire on Shark Tank, Cuban celebrated his first major business success in 1990 with a bit of intoxication.
He recently recounted the story during an interview on the Club Shay Shay podcast with Shannon Sharpe.
Cuban described how he had just sold his initial venture, a small software company named MicroSolutions.
The business was acquired by CompuServe for an impressive $6 million.
As a newly minted millionaire, he did what many in his situation would do—he celebrated with friends, getting quite drunk.
“They’re like, ‘What do you think you’re going to do with all this money?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t care about cars or houses, but boy, you know, I fly a lot for work,'” he remarked to Sharpe.
In his inebriated state, Cuban contacted American Airlines, slurring his words, to inquire if they had a lifetime pass option.
The airline confirmed they did indeed offer such a pass.
Consequently, he spent $125,000 on a lifetime flight pass with American Airlines.
Cuban recounted, “I got all that information, hungover as hell, and I signed up. Initially, it was $125,000 and then I upgraded it. I forget how much I paid, but it gave me almost unlimited miles for me and somebody else for the rest of my life.”
The purchase was for the AAirpass, launched in the 1980s, which granted lifetime unlimited first-class travel.
During the 90s, the cost was determined by age, and at 32, Cuban paid $125,000.
Today, due to inflation, the price would be around $300,000.
However, Cuban reportedly transferred the pass to his father, and upon his father’s passing, he transferred it to a friend.
Today, American Airlines no longer offers this pass, so aspiring buyers are out of luck.
Instead, a flat rate for frequent business travelers was implemented, which concluded in March this year.
Thus, what was available to Cuban in the 90s is no longer an option.
That wasn’t his sole major acquisition; in 1999, he purchased a $40 million Gulfstream G5 jet after Yahoo acquired his streaming service Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion, according to CNBC.
This transaction holds the Guinness World Record as the ‘largest single e-commerce transaction.’
Despite his spending habits, he advises young people to live modestly, akin to ‘college students,’ and to save diligently for future success.
In a 2017 interview with Money, Cuban shared that despite his capacity for luxury, he continues to reside in the same home he’s owned for 18 years.