Business

Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11% as NBA team valuations rise, CNBC has learned.
Viera bought the additional stake from food service company Aramark.
The NBA has been working to increase team ownership by people of color or former players.

The San Antonio Spurs logo is seen before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 19, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. 
Noah Graham | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11%, CNBC has learned, as NBA valuations climb and make teams more attractive assets for investors.
About two weeks ago, Viera, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, bought out food service company Aramark’s remaining interest in the Spurs at a steep discount in a deal that values the team at $2.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information. Partial team owners can get major discounts when they buy small pieces of teams that give them less control over decisions.

Last May, Viera bought a 5% stake in the Spurs for an undisclosed enterprise value. But Aramark’s 2023 annual report says it sold a portion of its stake in the Spurs for $98.2 million in cash, resulting in a pretax loss of $1.1 million during fiscal 2023.
The Spurs’ majority owner is Peter Holt, managing partner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which also operates the team’s arena, the Frost Bank Center. The Holts joined the Spurs ownership group in 1996. Other minority owners of the team include Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Sixth Street Partners, the McCombs family and two-time NBA champion David Robinson, who played for the Spurs from 1989 to 2003.

Paul Viera, investor in theSan Antonio Spurs.
Courtesy: NBA

The Spurs have won five NBA titles, but have not made the postseason since 2019. The team finished with a 22-60 record in 2023-24, last in the Southwest Division, but rising superstar Victor Wembanyama is starting to change the team’s basketball and financial trajectory.
NBA teams are hot assets thanks in large part to the league’s new $76 billion, 11-year media deal.
Just two weeks ago, former Milwaukee Bucks star Junior Bridgeman paid a $3.4 billion enterprise value (equity plus net debt) for a preferred limited discount for 10% of the Bucks in a deal that valued the team at $4 billion, $800 million more than the club was valued at when Jimmy and Dee Haslam bought Marc Lasry’s 25% in April 2023.

Sports bankers tell CNBC that controlling stakes in the Spurs and Bucks are not far apart in value, at around $4 billion.
Both Bridgeman and Viera also add to the growing number of diverse owners in pro basketball.
The NBA has tried to increase the number of owners who are people of color or former NBA players.
Former players with a minority stake in teams include: Grant Hill in the Atlanta Hawks; Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway in the Memphis Grizzlies; Robinson in the Spurs; Dwyane Wade in the Utah Jazz; Elliot Perry in the Grizzlies; and Michael Jordan in the Charlotte Hornets.
All eyes now turn to the Boston Celtics. Just weeks after winning the NBA Finals, co-owner Wyc Grousbeck announced he was selling his stake in the team in July.
The Grousbeck family has its controlling stake in the Boston Celtics on the market, and sources tell CNBC they expect the reigning NBA champions to fetch between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. The Grousbecks bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
The NBA declined to comment on Viera’s investment in the Spurs. Aramark and Earnest Partners did not respond to emails from CNBC regarding Viera’s investments.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company, is one of the NBA’s partners in its new media rights deal.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, according to a new study.
The results suggest semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, could potentially become a new alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, which could help address the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The data adds to growing evidence that a highly popular class of diabetes and obesity treatments called GLP-1s may have health benefits beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss.

A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024.
Hollie Adams | Reuters

Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, demonstrating its potential as an alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, according to a new study released Wednesday. 
The active ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, was associated with a “significantly lower” opioid overdose risk than other diabetes medications in people diagnosed with both Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder, said the paper published in JAMA Network Open. 

The results suggest that Ozempic could offer potential as a tool for addressing the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency in 2017. There are currently three effective medications to prevent overdoses from opioid use disorder, but a new alternative is needed because some patients simply don’t use them, said lead study co-author Dr. Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve University. 
In 2022, only about a quarter of patients with opioid use disorder received recommended medications for it, and many discontinued treatment within six months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics says opioids are a factor in around 72% of overdose deaths in the U.S. 
The study results also add to mounting evidence that a highly popular class of diabetes and obesity treatments called GLP-1s may have several health benefits beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss. Novo Nordisk, its rival Eli Lilly and independent researchers have been racing to study those drugs’ potential in patients with chronic conditions ranging from kidney disease and sleep apnea to addictive behaviors such as nicotine and alcohol use.
In the study released Wednesday, researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the National Institutes of Health analyzed the electronic records of nearly 33,000 patients who were prescribed semaglutide or other diabetes medications between December 2017 and June 2023. The study was not funded by Novo Nordisk. 
Around 3,000 people were prescribed semaglutide injections, while the remaining patients received treatments that ranged from insulins to older GLP-1s for diabetes. That includes dulaglutide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s drug Trulicity, and liraglutide, which is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Victoza. 

Researchers monitored how many opioid overdose cases occurred in patients during a one-year period after they stopped treatment with semaglutide or other drugs. For example, there were 42 cases of opioid overdose among a group of patients that received semaglutide, compared with 97 cases among another group that received insulins, according to the study. 
That reflects a 58% lower risk of opioid overdose in patients who took semaglutide, Xu said.  
But Xu noted the study has limitations since it relies on data from electronic health records.

More CNBC health coverage

More research, specifically clinical trials that randomly assign patients to receive semaglutide or other treatments, is needed to confirm how much Ozempic and other GLP-1s can help those with opioid use disorder, according to the study authors. Those randomized studies can also determine whether those treatments are beneficial to the general opioid use disorder population or only certain patients with the condition.
“The extent to which GLP-1 medications could benefit treatment of opioid use disorders and help prevent overdoses is unclear,” Dr. Nora Volkow, lead study co-author and director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement to CNBC. “The preliminary findings from this study point to the possibility that GLP-1 medications may have value in helping to prevent opioid overdoses.”
Xu added that the researchers plan to study semaglutide in patients with opioid use disorder and obesity. 

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said he respects the rights of the coffee chain’s baristas to unionize.
Starbucks and Workers United are negotiating a framework for collective bargaining agreements for unionized cafes.
Today, Workers United represents more than 490 of Starbucks’ U.S. cafes and more than 10,500 of its employees.

A Starbucks worker wears a t-shirt and button promoting unionization on April 7, 2022, in Chicago. 
John J. Kim | Chicago Tribune | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the coffee chain is committed to bargaining in good faith with the union that represents many of its baristas, as the two sides work to craft a labor deal.
“I deeply respect the right of partners to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union,” Niccol wrote on Tuesday in a letter to the union obtained by CNBC. “If our partners choose to be represented, I am committed to making sure we engage constructively and in good faith with the union and the partners it represents.”

He was responding to a letter from the Starbucks Workers United bargaining delegation sent a day earlier, ahead of another bargaining session between Starbucks and the union. The two sides are negotiating a framework that would be the basis for collective bargaining agreements between individual stores and the company. The union is pushing for fair scheduling, a living wage, and racial and gender equity, the delegation said in its letter.
“We know that many of your dedicated customers — as well as future generations of customers — have a vested interest in the outcome of our negotiations and reaching a foundational agreement,” the group wrote in its letter to Niccol.
Three years ago, Starbucks baristas started unionizing under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. For two and a half years, the coffee giant tried to curb the union push, leading to battles that played out in headlines, social media and courts.
But the turning point for both parties came six months ago when they agreed to work together on a path forward after mediation to resolve lawsuits sparked by the union’s posts on social media.
Niccol joined Starbucks several weeks ago, making him a newcomer to the union discussions. In his previous role as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, only one location, in Lansing, Michigan, successfully unionized. Last year, the burrito chain agreed to pay former employees of an Augusta, Maine, location $240,000 as part of a settlement for closing the restaurant when workers tried to unionize. Chipotle denied any wrongdoing.
Today, Workers United represents more than 490 of Starbucks’ U.S. cafes and more than 10,500 of its employees. The company has more than 16,700 locations in the U.S., more than half of which are owned by the company. More

Once a regional Mexican food, birria has seen its presence on U.S. menus more than quintuple over the past four years, according to Datassential.
Mexican-inspired chains such as Qdoba and Del Taco have added their own versions to their menus, while eateries with broader menus have also adopted it.
Birria’s versatility and flavor has helped it grow from being a specific dish to a protein found across menus and in many different foods.

Birria burrito surrounded by birria tacos, birria munchwrap, birria loaded fries and birria consommé at Little Miner Taco in North Bethesda, Maryland.
Laura Chase de Formigny | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Birria, which was once known as a regional Mexican food, has taken on a life of its own in the U.S., becoming a social media star and fast-food darling.
Traditionally, birria is a beef or goat stew, slow cooked with spices and chiles to give the meat lots of flavor. Birria tacos use the slow-cooked meat as a filling and usually include a consommé on the side to dip the taco.

Over the past four years, birria has seen its presence on restaurant menus grow 412%, largely thanks to midscale and casual-dining chains, according to market research firm Datassential. It has made the jump from Mexican-focused restaurants to eateries with broader menus, such as Sugar Factory’s American dining spots and Bowlero’s bowling alleys.
Mexican-inspired fast-food brands such as Qdoba, El Pollo Loco, Del Taco and even Taco Bell have released their own versions of birria, turning it into a new menu staple. And the dish is still growing. Datassential predicts that birria’s menu penetration will more than double over the next four years.

From Jalisco to TikTok

The Birria Tacos at Mariscos 1133 Restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Scott Suchman | The Washington Post | Getty Images

While birria might be newer to U.S. diners, it has been around for centuries in Jalisco, a Mexican state that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Goats, which were originally brought over by Spaniards, had become an invasive species, and eating them was an easy way to take care of the problem, according to Steven Alvarez, a St. John’s University professor who teaches a class on taco literacy. But making goat tasty required spices and chiles. Slow cooking the meat made it tender.
“The goat comes from Europe, the chiles — the guajillo peppers, ancho peppers — are native to the Americas, and they come together to make this thing that is distinctly new,” Alvarez said.

The dish migrated up to Tijuana, Mexico. There, in the 1950s, a taco vendor named Don Guadalupe Zárate swapped out goat for beef because it was cheaper, according to Alvarez. Adding water to make it a stew kept the meat from burning.
Over the past decade, birria moved north, to Los Angeles, where Mexican immigrants dished out tacos and consommé from food trucks such as Birrieria Gonzalez.
“What’s beautiful about [southern California] is that the Mexican food is always, constantly regenerated by what’s going on in Mexico, based on the immigration patterns,” Alvarez said.
More recently, birria took off in New York City, with restaurants and food trucks serving up tacos and consommé across the five boroughs.
But the true inflection point for birria came thanks to Instagram. Food influencers’ photos of birria tacos, with their beef cascading down into a cup of consommé, made mouths water, and introduced a new audience to the food, according to Alvarez. Once TikTok took off, so did videos of birria, whether for reviews of the restaurants and food trucks serving it or for recipes to make it at home.

Finding opportunity

Qdoba’s Brisket Birria, seen here in the chain’s quesadillas.
Source: Qdoba

Social media is partly why birria became a staple on Qdoba’s menu.
Katy Velazquez, director of culinary innovation for Qdoba, was first introduced to birria while in Mexico for a previous job. Later, while back in the U.S., she started seeing the food pick up online, thanks to “sexy cheese pull shots” on social media, she said.
Cut to the Covid-19 pandemic, when brisket prices were soaring, and Qdoba had to remove its Tex Mex-inspired version of brisket from its menu.
“We were losing money on every entrée that we sold,” Velazquez said.
But that loss gave her team the opportunity to create their own take on birria, using brisket as its base. The fast-casual chain’s final product is not made the same way that traditional birria is, but Velazquez and her team aimed to emulate the same flavor and tenderness.
“We get the benefit of seasonings that have hours of tomatoes that are reduced and simmered and then they get dehydrated and brought into it, so we get the same effect and flavor without hours and hours of work,” she said.
Qdoba introduced its birria two years ago, replacing its previous brisket entree permanently and charging customers extra for the new protein option. Since the chain is privately owned by Butterfly Equity, it does not disclose its financial results, including more details about the success of the launch.
This fall, the chain is repromoting its birria offerings, betting that its flavor will appeal to customers looking for a cozy lunch or dinner, Velazquez said.
“We’re really proud of it, and we’re proud to be able to bring something that was a regional Mexican cuisine to a really large audience at a brand like ours,” she added.

Birria everything

Lamb is seasoned for lamb birria in Oakland, California.
Liz Hafalia | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

Birria’s fanbase is not growing just because Qdoba and other large restaurant chains have added it to their menus. It is also because of its own versatility, Christine Couvelier, a culinary trendspotter and founder of the Culinary Concierge, told CNBC.
“This is a dish that is not about heat — it’s flavor,” Couvelier said. “So when consumers try it on a menu, they aren’t afraid or surprised. This is a flavor that is cooked low and slow.”
Couvelier envisions many different possible iterations for birria: on top of poutine, in soups and even stuffed in ravioli. She has also started to see some packaged food companies experiment with sauces that include the flavors of birria.
“It has switched from a specific dish to a protein and can be found across the menu,” said Claire Conaghan, Datassential trendologist and associate director.
Now that birria is usually made using beef, it can be paired with nearly anything, Conaghan added.
According to Datassential, tacos are the most popular birria dishes found on menus, but the firm’s Menu Trends platform has also found birria quesadillas, grilled cheese, breakfast dishes and even ramen.
Birria ramen first popped up in Tijuana, Mexico, according to Alvarez. But it has made its way stateside, and even appeared on Del Taco’s menu.
Jeremias Aguayo, Del Taco’s senior director of culinary research and development, rejoined the chain’s culinary team in 2022, shortly after Jack in the Box bought Del Taco. He personally took on the goal of creating Del Taco’s take on birria.
The consommé recipe alone took Aguayo four months and 17 attempts to make just right, he said. At the same time, Del Taco came up with its beef birria recipe. The chain launched its quesabirria taco, birria quesadilla and birria ramen at the same time last November.
The result was Del Taco’s biggest promotion in years, leading to “big jumps” in sales, traffic and check average, according to Aguayo. Del Taco sold upward of one million birria ramen at more than 600 restaurants over two promotional windows. More

The twelve new restaurants added to the New York Michelin Guide this month, serving up cuisine ranging from “haute French” to “eco-chic”, will be toasting their success. Being featured in the handbook of the tyre-maker-turned-restaurant-critic is the first step towards receiving a Michelin star, the most coveted award in fine dining. Yet according to research recently published in the Strategic Management Journal, an improbable source of culinary intelligence, restaurants might be better off remaining starless. More

Novo Nordisk’s top executive is slated to face a Senate grilling over the high prices of the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic.
The Danish drugmaker’s CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, will testify at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate panel, argues that Novo Nordisk charges Americans substantially higher prices for its blockbuster injections than it does for patients in other countries.

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks during an interview in New York on Aug. 10, 2022.
Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Novo Nordisk’s top executive is slated to face a Senate grilling on Tuesday over the high prices of the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, as demand for both injections soars in the U.S. 
Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will testify at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. It comes roughly five months after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Senate panel, opened an investigation into the Danish drugmaker’s pricing practices. 

Sanders contends that Novo Nordisk charges Americans substantially higher prices for its blockbuster drugs than it does for patients in other countries. Before insurance, Ozempic costs nearly $969 per month and Wegovy costs almost $1,350 per month in the U.S. 
Meanwhile, both treatments can cost as little as under $100 for a month’s supply in some European countries, according to a release from the committee. Ozempic costs just $59 in Germany, while Wegovy costs $92 in the U.K.
Sanders also said last week that the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies have told him that they could sell a version of Ozempic for less than $100 a month at a profit. There are currently no generic alternatives to Ozempic available in the U.S. 

Weight loss syringes of the brands “Wegovy”, “Ozempic” and “Mounjaro” are sold at In der Achat Apotheke in Mitte, Germany.
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Sanders and other lawmakers, health experts and insurers have warned that the insatiable demand for Novo Nordisk’s drugs and similar weight loss and diabetes treatments from rival Eli Lilly could potentially bankrupt the U.S. health-care system unless prices drop.
Both drugmakers make GLP-1s, which mimic hormones produced in the gut to tamp down a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. Eli Lilly’s weight loss injection Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro similarly cost around $1,000 per month before insurance and other rebates.

In a release, the Senate Health Committee said it would cost the U.S. $411 billion per year if half of all Americans took weight loss drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. That’s $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all prescription drugs in 2022. 
Medicare spent $4.6 billion on Ozempic in 2022 alone, according to health policy research organization KFF. 

More CNBC health coverage

Other insurers and employers have implemented strict requirements to control weight loss drug costs, or have dropped coverage of those treatments altogether. Many health plans cover GLP-1s for diabetes, but not for weight loss. The federal Medicare program doesn’t pay for weight loss treatments unless they are approved and prescribed for another health condition. 
The hearing comes as the Biden administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle try to rein in health-care costs in the U.S., in part by pressuring the pharmaceutical industry and drug supply chain middlemen. On average, Americans pay two to three times more than patients in other developed nations for prescription drugs, according to a fact sheet from the White House.
Notably, Ozempic will likely be subject to the next round of price negotiations between manufacturers and Medicare — a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that aims to lower costs for seniors. Wall Street analysts say Ozempic will likely be eligible for negotiations by the time the next round of drugs is selected in 2025, for price changes that will go into effect in 2027.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

More than 30,000 Boeing machinists began a strike on Sept. 13 after overwhelmingly turning down a tentative agreement.
The financial impact of Boeing’s strike will depend on how long it lasts, but Bank of America estimates it’s costing Boeing $50 million a day.

Striking Boeing workers hold rally at the Boeing Portland Facility on September 19, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. 
Jordan Gale | AFP | Getty Images

Boeing on Monday sweetened its contract offer and said it was its “best and final” proposal for its more than 30,000 machinists as their strike, which has halted most of the aerospace giant’s aircraft production, entered its second week.
The new offer raised pay, reinstated annual bonuses and increased a bonus that would be given upon the contract’s ratification, among other changes, Boeing said on its website.

The company’s new offer would boost general wages by 30% over four years, up from a previously proposed 25%. It also doubled the ratification bonus to $6,000, reinstated an annual machinist bonus and raised the company’s 401(k) match.
The labor union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said Monday that it is reviewing the offer.
“Boeing executives have always known they could do better and this proposal shows the company can do better,” Brian Bryant, the union’s international president, said in a written statement.
Boeing said the offer is contingent upon ratification by Friday at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Read more CNBC airline news

The new offer is Boeing’s latest attempt to end a costly strike, the unionized work group’s first since 2008, as pressure is mounting on new CEO Kelly Ortberg to reach a deal.

Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein estimated the strike is costing Boeing $50 million a day, and ratings agencies have said the company risks a downgrade the longer the strike lasts.
In the first few days of the strike, Boeing said it started temporarily furloughing nonunion workers including managers, and implemented other cut costs such as a hiring freeze, reduced travel, and the elimination of first- and business-class air tickets for employees.
Both Boeing and the union said they were disappointed with negotiations last week.

Workers with picket signs outside the Boeing Co. manufacturing facility during a strike in Everett, Washington, US, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. 
M. Scott Brauer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The strike came as workers voted 94.6% against the previous proposal that the union had endorsed.
Machinists on picket lines in Renton, Washington, told CNBC last week that they rejected the first contract with higher pay because they wanted their wages to keep up with the sharp increase in the cost of living in the Seattle area.
Some workers said in interviews that they have prepared for a long strike and have begun taking side jobs like delivering food or working in warehouses.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

Levi Strauss teased a potential partnership with Beyoncé in an Instagram post on Monday.
The post included an image of a woman wearing a cowboy hat and riding a horse with the caption “INTRODUCING: A New Chapter.”
Levi’s second-quarter earnings in June missed Wall Street’s sales expectations, but the brand’s leadership has maintained that the future of denim is bright.

Beyoncé at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 1, 2024.
Michael Buckner | Billboard | Getty Images

Levi Strauss summoned the Beyhive on Monday after teasing a potential collaboration with Beyoncé in a post on Instagram.
The brand’s shares briefly popped after the update and were last up about 1% Monday.

The post included an image of a woman wearing a cowboy hat and riding a horse with the caption “INTRODUCING: A New Chapter.” Aside from the allusions to Beyoncé’s latest album, “Cowboy Carter,” Levi’s also tagged the superstar’s account in the post, fueling buzz from her fanbase, known as the Beyhive.
Beyoncé’s country album, released earlier this year, features a song titled “LEVII’S JEANS.”
Denim has been experiencing something of a boost of late, with brands such as American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch calling out the trend as helping to revitalize sales.
Levi’s second-quarter earnings in June missed Wall Street’s sales expectations, but the brand’s leadership has maintained that the future of denim is bright. CEO Michelle Gass told analysts at the time that the growth in denim’s popularity has never been higher, particularly with clothing items other than pants, such as denim skirts or dresses.
Representatives for Levi’s did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the potential Beyoncé collaboration.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More