What is Mark Cuban’s IQ?
How smart is Mark Cuban? A business degree he chose for its tuition, two companies sold, and not one test score to read.
Mark Cuban’s IQ score has never been published: the 138 that estimator pages print is built from two other sites’ guesses, not from a test. What is documented is a 1981 Indiana University business degree, a company sold to CompuServe in 1990 and a streaming business sold to Yahoo in 1999.
Mark Cuban’s estimated IQ
- A Bachelor of Science in management from Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business in 1981, reached after he skipped his senior year of high school to enroll full time at the University of Pittsburgh and then transferred after one year.
- MicroSolutions, a systems integration firm he started in Dallas, which his own company biography says grew to 80 employees before CompuServe bought it in 1990 for $6 million.
- AudioNet, later Broadcast.com, which he joined with Todd Wagner in 1995 and which Yahoo acquired in 1999: an early bet on streaming audio over the internet.
- A later run across sport, television and health care: the Dallas Mavericks (bought in January 2000), Shark Tank (a regular from 2012 to May 2025) and Cost Plus Drugs (launched January 19, 2022).
- No IQ, SAT or ACT result has been published, so the estimate rests on the documented record, not on a measurement.
Mark Cuban’s estimated IQ is inferred from a degree and a business career, and business outcomes are only a loose signal of test-measured ability. Several milestones were shared with partners (Todd Wagner at AudioNet, Alex Oshmyansky at Cost Plus Drugs), and a management degree is a weaker signal than the science or engineering degrees behind the higher ranges on this site, so the edges of 120–135 are soft.
- Born
- July 31, 1958, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Education
- Mt. Lebanon High School (skipped senior year); University of Pittsburgh, one year; Indiana University Bloomington, Kelley School of Business, BS in management, 1981
- Known for
- AudioNet and Broadcast.com; the Dallas Mavericks; Shark Tank; Cost Plus Drugs
- Companies sold
- MicroSolutions to CompuServe (1990); Broadcast.com to Yahoo (1999)
- Mavericks
- Bought January 2000; NBA approved sale of a controlling interest December 27, 2023; owns 27% as of July 2026 (Associated Press)
- Shark Tank
- Guest shark 2011; regular 2012 to May 2025 (seasons 3–16)
- Recognition
- Kelley School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur (1998); Indiana University Bicentennial Medal (2020)
- Documented test record
- None found: no IQ, SAT or ACT score located
What an IQ of 120–135 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Mark Cuban is
Mark Cuban’s education runs from Mt. Lebanon High School, in a Pittsburgh suburb, to a BS in management from Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business in 1981. He was born in Pittsburgh on July 31, 1958. Instead of finishing his senior year of high school he enrolled full time at the University of Pittsburgh, and after one year there he transferred to Indiana. Wikipedia lists a bar, disco lessons and a chain letter among his college ventures. Indiana later gave him the Kelley School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur award (1998) and its Bicentennial Medal (2020).
After graduating he took a job at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, converting the manual processes of smaller regional banks to computerized systems, and in 1982 he moved to Dallas. MicroSolutions followed in 1983: a systems integration firm that, by his own company’s biography, grew to 80 employees and was sold in 1990 to CompuServe, then a subsidiary of H&R Block, for $6 million.
In 1995 he and Todd Wagner, a fellow Indiana alumnus, joined the audio-streaming company founded in 1989 as Cameron Audio Networks, which became AudioNet.com; his biography says the idea began with a lunch about hearing Indiana basketball games in Dallas over the internet. It was renamed Broadcast.com in 1998, went public in July 1998, and Yahoo announced its acquisition on April 1, 1999, with the deal closing that July. In January 2000 Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks, who won the 2011 NBA championship. He appeared on Shark Tank as a guest shark in 2011 and as a regular from season 3 in 2012 until the season 16 finale in May 2025, after announcing on November 27, 2023 that he would leave.
His latest venture is Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which he co-founded with Alex Oshmyansky (his biography dates the co-founding to 2019) and which launched on January 19, 2022, with prices set at the company’s cost plus a 15% markup. On December 27, 2023 the NBA approved the sale of a controlling interest in the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families; as of the Associated Press’s July 8, 2026 report he owns 27% of the team, and no later change was found as of October 2026.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed August 2026
Mark Cuban: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- July 31, 1958Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1981Graduates from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with a BS in management, after one year at the University of Pittsburgh that replaced his senior year of high school.
- 1982Moves to Dallas, Texas.
- 1983Starts MicroSolutions, a systems integration firm.
- 1990Sells MicroSolutions to CompuServe for $6 million.
- 1995With Todd Wagner, joins the streaming company that becomes AudioNet.com, renamed Broadcast.com in 1998.
- 1999Yahoo announces its acquisition of Broadcast.com on April 1; the deal closes in July.
- January 2000Buys the Dallas Mavericks, who win the NBA championship in 2011.
- 2012Becomes a regular shark on Shark Tank (guest in 2011); his last appearance is the season 16 finale in May 2025.
- January 19, 2022Cost Plus Drugs launches, priced at cost plus a 15% markup.
- December 27, 2023The NBA approves the sale of a controlling interest in the Mavericks; he keeps a minority stake.
Where the 138 figure came from
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
The Mark Cuban IQ figure that turns up first online is 138, printed on CheckIQ under the headline “Mark Cuban Has an Estimated IQ of 138”, and no test produced it. The page, published September 15, 2024 and updated September 26, 2024, says it derived its figure from two other sites, Quora and IQGrowth, which it lists at 157 and 120 and marks low confidence, and it says it approximated some scores “by taking the midpoint of their provided ranges.” No test, examiner, test date or interview appears on it. For how numbers like this usually get made, see where celebrity IQ numbers come from.
Mark Cuban’s IQ level on those pages rests on his résumé, not on a measurement. The inputs behind such estimates are the ones anyone can read: Cuban skipped his senior year of high school, and his Indiana University degree is a bachelor’s, a BS in management from the Kelley School of Business in 1981, not a graduate degree. An estimate that leans on a résumé can land near the truth, but nothing in it can be checked.
The documented education is real, and it says little about a score. Cuban skipped his senior year at Mt. Lebanon High School to enroll full time at the University of Pittsburgh, and after one year he transferred to Indiana University Bloomington. In Wikipedia’s account he chose Indiana without visiting because it had the lowest tuition among the top-ten business schools, which makes the choice a budget decision, not an admissions ranking. Leaving high school a year early and finishing a bachelor’s degree show readiness for college work; they do not fix a number. Neither end of 120–135 is a measurement: an IQ of 125 and an IQ of 135 describe where a score would sit on the scale, not what Cuban would score.
Read plainly, the record documents an early adopter who sold two companies: MicroSolutions, a systems integration firm sold to CompuServe in 1990, and AudioNet, which he and Todd Wagner joined in 1995, which became Broadcast.com and which Yahoo acquired in 1999. Those results reflect judgment, timing and partners as well as ability, and business outcomes are only a loose signal of test-measured ability (does IQ predict income?). Placed among the business profiles here, the estimate sits above Richard Branson (105–125) and Jack Ma (108–122) and five points above MrBeast (115–130), because Cuban finished a degree that MrBeast did not. It sits below Elon Musk (140–150), whose profile rests on degrees in physics and economics from Penn, and below Jeff Bezos (145–155).
How we read a number →Estimator pages, Wikipedia, Indiana University’s honors page, his own company biography and the Computer History Museum profile were checked for a named test, examiner or score for Mark Cuban; none was found, and no SAT or ACT result turned up. MyIQScores says it no longer publishes a ranking table of celebrity IQ estimates, and The Scientific Place’s celebrity IQ list has no entry for him.
Source of the circulating 138: derived from Quora (157) and IQGrowth (120), both marked low confidence, partly by taking midpoints of ranges. Names no test, examiner or date. Search results show the same 138 repeated on other pages.
BS in management from Indiana University in 1981; Kelley School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur (1998); Bicentennial Medal (2020); MicroSolutions sold to CompuServe in 1990.
MicroSolutions grew to 80 employees and sold to CompuServe in 1990 for $6 million; Audionet.com began with a lunch with Todd Wagner about hearing IU basketball in Dallas; Cost Plus Drugs co-founded in 2019 and launched January 19, 2022; last Shark Tank appearance in season 16, May 2025.
An independent record of the MicroSolutions sale to CompuServe in 1990, the 1995 Audionet co-founding, the sale to Yahoo and the Mavericks purchase in 2000.
Born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh; skipped senior year to enroll at Pitt, one year there, then Indiana; Mellon Bank job; 2023 Mavericks sale approval; Cost Plus Drugs launched January 2022. Wikidata Q318503 is the same person (born July 31, 1958, Pittsburgh).
Independent confirmation of Mt. Lebanon High School, the skipped senior year, one year at Pitt and the 1981 Kelley graduation. It calls the degree Business Administration; Indiana’s own page says management, which this profile follows.
Cameron Audio Networks (1989), AudioNet, Broadcast.com (1998); IPO July 1998; Yahoo deal announced April 1, 1999 and closed July 1999; Shark Tank guest in 2011, regular from 2012, exit announced November 27, 2023; Mavericks bought January 2000; Cost Plus pricing. Ecommerce Fastlane gives 1983 as the MicroSolutions founding year.
Cuban sold his majority stake in 2023 and owns 27% of the Mavericks as of July 2026; Sports Illustrated calls him a minority owner in September 2025.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Mark Cuban, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
Searches for “Mark Cuban IQ” lead to 138, printed on CheckIQ under the headline “Mark Cuban Has an Estimated IQ of 138”, which says it places him in a bracket reached by 0.6% of the population. The page says it derived the figure from two sources, Quora (157) and IQGrowth (120).
None of these pages names a test, an examiner or a test date. CheckIQ, which describes itself as an edtech platform that offers an adaptive online IQ test, published its page on September 15, 2024 and updated it on September 26, 2024; it marks both of its sources as low confidence and says it approximated some scores by taking the midpoint of the ranges its sources give. MyIQScores states that most IQ numbers attached to celebrities are not authenticated test results and that it no longer publishes a ranking table of them. The Scientific Place’s celebrity IQ list has no entry for Cuban. Wikipedia, Indiana University’s honors page, the Computer History Museum profile and his own company biography list degrees, companies and awards, and no IQ, SAT or ACT result.
A 37-point spread from 120 to 157, with this site’s 120–135 at the low end. The headline 138 sits three points above the top of that range and 157 sits 22 points above it, while IQGrowth’s 120 happens to match the bottom. Mark Cuban’s IQ level, on the record, supports the lower end of the circulating numbers, which is where sourced profiles usually land.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Mark Cuban — frequently asked
What is Mark Cuban’s IQ?
Mark Cuban’s IQ is not known, because no IQ test result has been published for him. The 138 on estimator pages is built from two other sites’ guesses, not from a measurement. This site’s estimate of Mark Cuban’s IQ, inferred from his documented education and career, is 120–135.
Did Mark Cuban take an IQ test?
No test result has been published, and none of the pages checked names a test he sat, an examiner or a date. Any Mark Cuban IQ score you see online is an estimate. Wikipedia, Indiana University’s honors page and his own company biography list degrees, companies and awards, but no IQ, SAT or ACT result.
What is Mark Cuban’s IQ level, and where does 138 come from?
The 138 comes from CheckIQ, which says it derived the figure from Quora (157) and IQGrowth (120) and marks both sources low confidence. It cites no test, examiner or date. Mark Cuban’s IQ level is therefore an estimate of estimates; this site’s range of 120–135 sits just below 138.
How smart is Mark Cuban?
The record shows a Bachelor of Science in management from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 1981, a company sold to CompuServe in 1990 and a streaming business sold to Yahoo in 1999. That is evidence of ability and judgment, not a score. This site’s estimated IQ for him is 120–135.
Is Mark Cuban a genius?
The record shows strong business results, not a measured genius-level score. No IQ result exists to confirm or rule out the label, and “genius” describes a reputation, not a test outcome. This site’s estimate, inferred from his education and companies, is an IQ of 120–135.
What is Mark Cuban’s education?
Mark Cuban graduated from Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in management. He spent one year at the University of Pittsburgh first, which he entered by skipping his senior year at Mt. Lebanon High School. Wikipedia reports he picked Indiana for its low tuition.
How does Mark Cuban’s estimated IQ compare with MrBeast’s and Richard Branson’s?
This site’s estimate for Mark Cuban, 120–135, sits above Richard Branson’s 105–125 and five points above MrBeast’s 115–130. All three are inferred from achievement, not from test results, so the gaps are judgments about the records, not measured differences.
How does my IQ compare with Mark Cuban?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other business & tech profiles, starting with Steve Jobs.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More business & tech profiles — same field, same method
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Photograph by Lukasz Kobus (© European Union, 2023; source: European Commission Audiovisual Service, May 24, 2023), CC BY 4.0. Cropped from the original. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Eva Rinaldi (Westfield Parramatta, Sydney, Australia, September 13, 2014), CC BY-SA 2.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by TechCrunch (TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco, September 20, 2023), CC BY 2.0. Background removed for the portrait above.
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