The daily business briefing: November 29, 2023

1. Mark Cuban to sell majority stake in Dallas Mavericks to Adelsons

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has agreed to sell a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and her family, multiple news organizations reported Tuesday. The Adelson family announced in an SEC filing made public Tuesday that it was selling $2 billion worth of Las Vegas Sands stock "to fund the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise." The deal reportedly values the NBA team at $3.5 billion. Cuban, who bought the franchise for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr. in 2000, would remain governor of the franchise and continue to control all basketball decisions, sources told ESPN. The Washington Post, ESPN

2. Charles Munger, Warren Buffett's investing partner, dies at 99

Charles Munger, billionaire investor Warren Buffett's second-in-command, died Tuesday in California. He was 99. Munger left a law career to help Buffett transform a struggling New England textile company into the investment juggernaut Berkshire Hathaway. Munger, known to nearly everyone as Charlie, was famous for his "laconic one-liners on investing, the economy and the foibles of human nature" — likening bankers to "heroin addicts" and the virtual currency Bitcoin to "rat poison," Reuters reported. Assessing the investment success of Berkshire Hathaway, which made him a billionaire, he once said: "It's not brilliance. It's just avoiding stupidity." The New York Times, Reuters

3. Shopping traffic hits records, but sales don't

A record number of people shopped in stores and online over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, although their spending didn't quite reach records set in recent years. About 200.4 million people — 60% of the U.S. population — did some shopping over the long weekend, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Consumers spent an average of $321.41 on seasonal gifts, decor and food, down from $325.44 last year and $361 in 2019. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, a crucial period for retailers, who make about 20% of their annual sales in November and December. CNN

4. Stock futures rise on fresh signs the Fed is done raising rates

U.S. stock futures rose slightly early Wednesday following Tuesday's modest gains. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up 0.3% at 7 a.m. ET. Nasdaq futures were up 0.4%. The Dow and the S&P 500 closed 0.2% and 0.1% higher, respectively, on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.3%. Stocks got a lift from comments by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who said Tuesday that the central bank's current monetary policy appears to be restrictive enough to cool inflation and hit its 2% target. Stocks have rallied in November on increasing expectations that the Fed is finished with its aggressive interest rate hikes. CNBC

5. Virgin Atlantic plane flies from London to New York on sustainable fuel

A Virgin Atlantic jetliner traveled from London to New York on Tuesday powered entirely by sustainable fuel. The flight from London Heathrow to New York's John F. Kennedy airport was intended to cap a "year of radical collaboration, to demonstrate the capability" of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the company said. SAF, a mix of cooking oil and waste animal fat, cuts up to 70% percent of carbon dioxide emissions, but so far accounts for just 0.1 percent of jet fuel used worldwide, Virgin Atlantic said. SAF is typically used in a blend. The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 flight marked the first commercial flight using SAF exclusively. The Hill