CNN news 2011-11-30
AZUZ: That`s why the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It`s the start of the holiday shopping season and a time when a lot of companies hope to make enough sales to get in the black.
AZUZ (voice-over): These folks are racing to be a part of it. A lot of stores offer deals to bring in the crowds. It might have worked, though there was some fighting among customers. According to a company that tracks shoppers, Black Friday brought in estimated sales of around $11.4 billion. That`s a big jump from last year.
But the experts also said it`s just one day. There`s no guarantee that the strong sales will last through the holiday shopping season. But they are expected to continue online today. It`s Cyber Monday, when companies start offering big holiday deals on their websites. Analysts are expecting another billion dollars or so in sales online today.
AZUZ: The NBA`s lockout is over. Players and owners announced over the weekend that they did reach a tentative deal to end the labor dispute, still has to be approved by both sides. This whole thing, as you might remember, started back in July. Owners and players couldn`t agree on how to split up the money that the NBA makes.
AZUZ (voice-over): The last time we reported on this story, NBA Commissioner David Stern warned the entire season could get canceled. Now it looks like it`ll just be shorter, 66 games instead of the usual 82. It`ll all start on Christmas Day. This lockout lasted more than 140 days. That`s shorter than the last time the NBA went through this in 1998. That lockout lasted for more than 200 days.