Las Vegas Sands stock apparently pays for Mark Cuban's NBA cashout

By Jon Swartz

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated to add proper attribution in the fifth paragraph.

Miriam Adelson, Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s biggest shareholder, sold $2 billion in the company's stock and will reportedly use the proceeds to buy a majority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) disclosed Tuesday afternoon that Adelson -- the widow of company founder Shelden Adelson -- sold roughly 10% of her stake in the company to use on a professional sports team, without stating a sport or location.

"We have been advised by the Selling Stockholders that they currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, along with additional cash on hand, to fund the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise pursuant to a binding purchase agreement, subject to customary league approvals," Las Vegas Sands said in a filing Tuesday.

The mystery appeared to be solved later in the evening, when NBA writer Marc Stein and The Athletic reported that Cuban will sell a majority stake in the Mavericks franchise to Adelson and her family. Cuban reportedly will value the stake at about $3.5 billion, and maintain control of the team and its operations.

According to ESPN, Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law talked with Cuban about building a casino and a new arena for the Mavericks in Dallas.

Cuban bought the team for $285 million in 2000, and has become a prominent owner within the NBA. He purchased the Mavericks after selling his video-streaming startup Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion at the height of the dot-com boom.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell 4.4% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

Miriam Adelson's stock sale initially sparked speculation about Las Vegas as a potential landing spot for yet another pro sports franchise. Since 2017, Sin City is the home to the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights and two-time WNBA champs Aces. The NFL's Raiders play in sparkling new Allegiant Stadium, the Formula 1 Grand Prix just took place on the Strip, and Major League Baseball owners have voted unanimously to permit the Oakland A's to relocate to Las Vegas.

-Jon Swartz

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05-29-24 1219ET

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