Cuban and Register: NYTimes Gets 'Deranged'
Mark Cuban makes for good copy. But apparently not good enough for the New York Times, which clearly embellished a story about Mark Cuban and his investment in Register.com to make it seem as though Cuban was frothing at the mouth about Register's plan to sell itself to Vector Capital for $202 million. Sure, Cuban's not impressed with the deal, and will probably vote against it with the shares in his 13.2 percent stake. But the lead of the story observes that Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has a "reputation for screaming like a deranged fan from the sidelines during games." Author Andrew Ross Sorkin later closes by asserting that Cuban's "outrage - and that of his indignant followers - makes them all seem more like sore losers than corporate reformers." What's in between isn't much better.
If Sorkin had taken the time to read BlogMaverick, he would know that Cuban isn't shy about posting reporter's emails on line. Which he did, publishing the entire e-mail exchange with Sorkin, in which Cuban never appears deranged or even outraged. He's not happy with the Register deal, and he says so. But the "blood feud" between Cuban and the registrar was nowhere to be seen in his response to Sorkin's emails. Cuban sums up his reaction:
Posted by RichM 
August 22, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
July 5, 2005
Cuban Investment A Boost for Domain Industry
Mark Cuban has been one of the most successful investors of the Internet era, with a reputation for recognizing trends early and selling at opportune moments (especially with Broadcast.com, which he co-founded and sold to Yahoo for $6 billion in 1999, prior to the dot-com collapse). While venture capitalists have been sizing up the domain name game for months, Cuban's investment in Register.com makes him perhaps the best-known investor putting money to work in the domain sector.
Since April 21, Cuban has invested approximately $18.3 million in shares of Register.com, according to SEC filings. Here's a breakdown of his purchases and the results thus far, based on today's closing price for RCOM of $7.83 a share:
Not counting transaction fees, Cuban is ahead about $923K on that $18.3 million investment - a gain of 5.05 percent in just over two months - and it's a fair bet that the price of Register.com will rise further as Cuban and Barington Companies vie for board seats. The attention to Cuban's investment is likely to focus additional attention on investment in the domain name market, which can only be good news for domain owners and portfolio owners.
Posted by RichM July 5, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter