Cuban started the practice after selling his first company, a software firm called MicroSolutions, for $6 million to CompuServe in 1990. He took 20% of the total sale price, he tells CNBC Make It, and paid it out to 80 employees — which would equate to $15,000 per staffer, if distributed equally. "It was f---ed up," Cuban told Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast in 2020. The business bounced back, and Cuban sold MicroSolutions five years later, making him a millionaire. "It was all about fun," Cuban told "The Draymond Green Show" podcast, in an April episode.

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Persons: Mark Cuban, I've, Cuban, Cuban's, MicroSolutions, Barstool, CBS's, he'd, Adelson, Dumont Organizations: Yahoo, CompuServe, CNBC, HDNet, NBA's Dallas Mavericks, Mavericks, Vegas Sands Corporation, Associated Press, Forbes Locations: Cuban