HBO's 'Silicon Valley' took a page from Mark Cuban's story about being naked and becoming a billionaire
In a scene with the guys of Pied Piper, Russ (Chris Diamantopoulos) says that he has been informed that his net worth had fallen below a billion dollars. The news sent him into a tailspin and he asked the guys to prematurely jump to a revenue-producing model of Pied Piper.
During that conversation, he describes the moment he became a billionaire.
"I remember the second I became a billionaire," Russ said. "I was a-- naked, sitting right there, just clicking and refreshing, clicking and refreshing, watching the stock rise. And when it happened, I popped a [expletive] so fast I went blind for a full minute, [expletive] all over those cushions."
Sound familiar?
Cuban told a very similar story (minus the raunchy, expletive part) in August 2014 during a podcast interview.
"Literally, I was sitting in front of a computer, naked, hitting the refresh because we were close - waiting until my net worth hit that billion when the stock price got to a certain point, and then I kinda screamed and jumped around and then got dressed," the "Shark Tank" co-host said.
So, Russell and Cuban are both colorful characters. They both brought radio to the internet in billion dollar deals. They both have invested in several companies. And now, both of them watched their money grow to the billion dollar level. Those are some pretty compelling similarities.