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TechMark Cuban

Mark Cuban Wants His Broadcast.com Brand Back

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
August 17, 2017, 8:13 AM ET

Billionaire Mark Cuban reportedly wants to buy back the Broadcast.com brand he sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion 18 years ago. Cuban wants to use the name for a tweaked version of a private chat app Cyber Dust, according to tech news site The Information.

Cyber Dust—once known as Dust—is available for iOS and Android devices, and bills itself as a safe, private way to chat. The messages never touch a server. Thus, in theory, they won’t show up to haunt the user after the fact. Users can screen capture some texts—at least on Android— but not with any identifying characteristics, like the sender or recipient name, according to tech news site The Next Web.

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A revised version of the app will let people pay for the privilege of chatting privately with luminaries like Cuban about issues of the day. Payment would be made via cryptocurrency, another of Cuban’s passions, according to the report, which cited an unnamed source familiar with the plan.

Asked about the report, Cuban responded via email that there were “a lot of mistakes in the article is my only comment.”

Related: The Five Worst Internet Acquisitions of All Time

Cuban and partner Todd Wagner launched Broadcast.com in 1995 to let people listen to college and other sporting events over the Internet. Cuban was driven by his desire to hear Indiana University—his alma mater—Hoosiers basketball games after he left the state.

Note: (August 17, 2017 11:24 a.m. EDT) This story was updated to include Mark Cuban’s comment.

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Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
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