there's some evidence that the head of neiman marcus may have saved his life. literally grabbed the united nations ambassador pulled him from a crowd hell-bent on doing some violent when he threw them in a car that made their getaway in downtown dallas. the united nations ambassador adlai stevenson turned and saturdays humans are these animals? there were signs and kennedy was being warned not to come to dallas both by people on the ground in texas and members of the staff. >> let me add to this question. yes, everybody was shocked by that. if the dallas police department entered the newsroom, kennedy had been shot. the switchboard was flooded and they were all calling and sobbing on the issue then compressing -- [inaudible] [laughter] them a say too about the mink coat mob, bill and i had a wonderful time excavating the stories. i think they've been delegated to be in a footnote in political history. there's a lot of good evidence the 1960s election turn on this moment. the person who led the mob had a son that day. they said obj to the antisocial. when the mo

neiman marcus the famous store downtown in downtown dallas a lot of you know i'm probably the finest store in this part of the country was coated with swastikas. folks were coming out in putting graffiti and swastikas on buildings around the town. a holocaust survivor in the spring of 63 and found the cross burning on his lawn in dallas and it culminated a month before kennedy came to dallas with the united nations ambassador adlai stevenson being attacked by another mob in dallas. a very distinct anger minority. he escaped with his life. there's some evidence that the head of neiman marcus might have saved his life literally rubbing the united nations ambassador and pulling him away from the crowd who is hell-bent on doing violence. he threw him in the car and they made their getaway in downtown dallas. the united nation's ambassador turned to stanley marcus and set are these the animals? there were signs and kennedy was being warned not to come to dallas both by people on the ground in texas and members of the staff. >> and let me at to this question. i think everybody was shocked

so how is neiman marcus combatting the luxury retail sales period? president and ceo of neiman marcus. how are things at the moment? what's working? >> well, gifts at all ranges in terms of price are doing well at neiman marcus and bergdorf goodman and of course we then sell things at the highest end of the range because that's what we're known for. >> i'm fascinated how you position the brand coming into the holiday season, particularly with the fantasy catalogue and a 201-inch outdoor tv system. >> bigger is better we think. >> sells for $2 million. what is the thinking of hough you approach this very high end customer? >> originally when the fantasy gifts were first envisioned back in the 1950s, it was really done as a marketing idea by stanley marcus. today it is also about presenting great unique items into the market, but in fact we sell about half of the gifts that we present each year in the christmas book the asten martin, all ten sold out for $365,000. >> you were telling me in the break the tv is in vienna. >> have you told any yet? >> no,

. >> that was at neiman marcus. >>> why one group says it violates the privacy of others. >>> a conservative group is fighting a new law that would protect transgender students. students would be allowed to go to the bathroom of their choice and play on the sports team in which they feel comfortable. but a group oppose this because it believes it violates the privacy of other students. organizers claim two counties in central and northern california rejected those signatures because the state said they were submitted to late. >> under california constitution, the people have 90 days to bring a referendum. we believe those votes should count. >> the counties are still reviewing those signatures. >>> today president obama complained his appointment of three openly gay athletes as the delegation going to the olympics. >> the fact that we have folks like billie jean king or brian who have been world-class athletes that people acknowledge for their accomplishments, you should take that for what it's worth. >> russia's anti-gay laws have been criticized by many of the western countries. neither th

we have ceos of leapfrog and neiman marcus.his 80th anniversary of the end to prohibition, we want to hear from you, how will you celebrate? your responses and the head of the new york brewers guild all coming up. ashley: cheers. every day we're working to be an even better company - and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp suppos nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billi here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. tracy: time to make money. charles payne is here. breakfast he is not talking about, lunch, maybe dinner. tiffany's buying me a vacation or something too? >> i think you bought people at tiffany's a few vacations over the ears? tracy: i doubt about that. >> goldman sachs jumped on the bandwagon and put buy on tiffany's conviction buy. ashley: finally. >> finally. i've been pounding the table

your thing, the lump sum of $295 million would buy you 160 of these 25 karat diamonds for sale in neiman marcus' fantasy gift catalog. or this aston martin for you and 855 of your closest friends. that would make for a christmas to remember. >> there's always tuesday. good luck. much more ahead on world news. the prices that change on amazon more than two million times a day. how do you know when to lock in the best deal? the tool that will help you. >>> prince harry and the trek on the south pole. the competition with champion veterans. what nearly stopped them all and how they triumphed. bob woodruff with the story. back in two and a half minutes tonight. back in two and a half minutes tonight. [ coughs, sneezes ] [ sniffles ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope. they don't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast-acting decongestant to relieve your

it one of the biggest heels in my book was the neiman marcus markets one, a secondary deal. >> is whatre seeing with bob's discount. we have a pe higher and a pe seller. if you're spot to get more value of the company go what is amitav you sell it to another pe firm? and is just that we cannot do better than this, so someone else might be able to? they will answer differently than the previous owner, but there is a cycle for private equity quest -- cash to have to return that money to investors. here, wejustin is should talk about at least one big notable tech deal of the year, which is silver lake and dell. that was excruciating. >> that was the deal of the year, ataturk most of the year to do. loberg broke the story in january but that dell was in the talks with company president. later that it was silver lake, and it closed in october. it took most of the air, and it was a 25 billion dollar deal. we saw activists come in and out left and right. a drama deal, and a big headline number. do you see smaller companies that take about being acquired by one of these bigger ones who were th

neiman marcus, burgers, and saks.ilers -- the best out of all the sectors in the s&p 500, up 42%. shop until you drop. the xrt, sell that one. they are not making money. >> the closes next. ♪ toif you expect anything happen, we are getting you caught up on christmas eve. the only stocks you need to know about. time warner cable gains 1% on news regulators are poised to remain hands off on mergers. lawyers say the regulatory and antitrust barriers would present a acquisition of time warner cable by any of their three largest competitors. good news -- at number nine, d.r. horton getting nearly 1% of the housing market data. newome's, purchases of homes exceeding projections in november. holding near a five-year high. the housing recovery is gaining momentum as mortgage rates climb. >> number eight is blue mobile, shares falling 3%. analysts lowering its rating on the mobile video game maker. the stock could pause in the near term due to concerns about performance of the company's upcoming game and the timing of future g

these experts issue watching, they see you coming out of a store, mae you went to tiffanies or neiman marcusthing, or reused bag the like the lululemon bags, you put that in your backseat you go inhe store, i know you spent a lot of money, have you receipt the in back. as you leave, they will break in your window, and take your parcels and you get the damaged vehicl if you have really something expensive, put it in your trunk, find another parking spot it will defuse it. >> don't even leave yr dry cleans on the seat, nothing, no phone, no plug ins. not even something from the drug store, at the end of the day somebody might think it is valuable? >> absolutely, you can leave coins for tolls which happens. just put that in your go police officer box, out -- in your glove box. out of sight out of mind. people have stolen dry cleaning thinking it is an expensive suit, this is timef year people have expensive jackets they have their clothes dry cleaned for holidays. gerri: okay, so, here is one of my problems, i forget where i parked my car. a massive mall parking lot. so many people there. what

i was a buyer for neiman marcus.sed to hearing differentiated pitches of new and unique products. i heard my brother, and i was like, that is a really different product and something i got excited about. i was happy to help them try to take this to market. >> where did you get the money to start this business? >> it was family-financed. we had a father that believed in us. it kind of went that way. now we are going and blowing, and we are actually going international next week. we will be selling in japan. >> what is the scale of the business? >> right now, we are in every walgreens in the country and every petco in the country. we are very lucky to partner with two great retailers already. we have sold 300 thousand units. it is less than the year into this thing. we are off to a very good start. irchbox? boxx -- b tell people what it is. >> it has about 400 thousand qualified customers, people who have opted in to receive the latest and greatest products. we have to find ways to get directly to the consumer. the han

or the entire neiman marcus fantasy gift catalog, for you and your 90 closest friends. >> it only takesne ticket. it's all about doing a little dreaming. you may win. you may not win. but i think it's just that brief escape that you get to think about. >> reporter: gearing up for the next drawing this tuesday, it may pay to escape to a different state. >> thank you. >> reporter: the winners of the top-ten largest drawings come from maryland, new jersey and new york, most often. but don't pack your suitcase just yet. the odds of winning the now-huge $550 million jackpot are still 1 in 259 million. so, tuesday is the big day now. that jackpot, the fourth-largest in history. by the time we get to that draw, though, it could be the largest in megamillions history, ever. there were some winners, overnight. nine people matched five numbers to claim $1 million each. i'd take that. >> maybe they can afford a partridge and a pear tree now. >> how do you put a price on a partridge and a pear tree? how do we come up with the numbers? i question the math. linzie, thank you very much. >>> there were

>> $400 : neiman-marcus, bloomingdale's, macy's, dillard's, and every fine retailers across the country can't. adam: and a strong. which is much stronger than glass. that's one of the reasons we're asked to participate, to create the ball in crystal. adam: were you there today? >> have been. [silence] for our times already. it looks terrific. the lives of working, the panels are on. adam: the mayor and the people will double. >> it actually stays year round heads nec's you replace a portion. adam: to actually put them in our era. the 2001 panels would donate to the 90 of the museum. adam: thank you for joining is. happy new year. can you guess who made and lost money to they? their world's largest may register and everything, and he must be fuming. find out what happened next. behoove welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't makehat happen. [ male announcer

other well-known names in men's clothing also wanted in, including paul stuart and neiman marcus.year, lauren sold a whopping half million dollars of ties. the designer had designs on something even bigger -- to expand his brand. he aimed to do so, he told charlie rose, by envisioning clothing the he himself would want to wear. >> what you thought you could buy in england, what you thought cary grant was wearing, fred astaire, you could not walk into a store and buy. when i came along, the business was not at all like -- the things that i made you could not buy. you could not find it. >> bloomingdale's saw potential and profit in lauren's line. >> we worked closely from the ties to men's shirts to suits, sport coats, slacks, total men's collection. and then he came and said, "marvin, i would like to do a women's business." >> i think the most important break for ralph lauren was probably getting a boutique of his own in bloomingdale's. it was the moment when someone outside of ralph's fantasy existence agreed with him and brought him into the world of commerce. >> this was the fir

offered by neiman-marcus. retractible 201 inch flat screen tv complete with surround sound.ey saving gift idea number two. full size sputnik chandelier like the one in new york's opera house. you save yourself as much as $36,000. money saving gift idea number three, the collection of rare whiskey. at harrod's department store. buy your favorite bottom shelf brand you save yourself $1.6 million. finally gift idea number four, personal submarine that can dive in to a depth of 3300 feet. stay on shore and you save yourself $3.350. all tolled that's $6.5 million we saved you already. happy holidays. ♪ i was going to the library to do my homework. it took a lot of juggling to keep it all together. for some low-income families, having broadband internet is a faraway dream. so we created internet essentials, america's largest low-cost internet adoption program. having the inentert at home means she has to go no further than the kitchen table to do her homework. now, more than one million americans have been connected at home. it makes it so much better to do homework, when you're a

offered by neiman-marcus. retractible 201 inch flat screen tv complete with surround sound.ey saving gift idea number two. full size sputnik chandelier like the one in new york's opera house. you save yourself as much as $36,000. money saving gift idea number three, the collection of rare whiskey. at harrod's department store. buy your favorite bottom shelf brand you save yourself $1.6 million. finally gift idea number four, personal submarine that can dive in to a depth of 3300 feet. stay on shore and you save yourself $3.350. all tolled that's $6.5 million we saved you already. happy holidays. ♪ ,,,,,, you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ through sunday, through sunday, thanksgiving weekend, save hundreds on beautyrest and posturepedic. choose $300 in fr

>> i went into a garden state plaza mall in new jersey and jcpenney is in the same mall as a neiman marcus is fascinating. >> that's the bifurcation of america. is sitting there like their leg has been amputated. i don't know if the jcpenney customer is the amazon customer. if you look at a lot of real value shoppers, you would be fascinated by how minimal the penetration of smartphones is. they are not show rooming. they are just clipping old- fashioned coupons. >> you mentioned amazon. amazon is broadening its customer base. costcoe now going after and sam's club by opening up a wholesale business to help it expand into that growth area. shipping and the prime business at put together. what do you think about amazon making this foray into club shopping? >> i would like to see them make a profit before they expand into anything else. everyone treats amazon like a golden child. at some point, i want my money back, not market share. this amazon pantry, there are lots of little asterisk problems. it will be certain weight and then it will qualify and that just oozes problems for me. i want t

i want to show the viewers some of the numbers. 24th, olds of the navy, 75%, neiman marcus, 65%, evenn come a goodman, 60%.rf the think the numbers will get even higher? , depending very well on how these next few days go. i would say a lot of people are out today, tomorrow. if i saturday and sunday there is not enough traffic and people are not buying enough, the numbers will go up again. already 75% off. you wonder how the companies make money. gross margins are at a gap of maybe 25% or 30%, so net profit margin is eight or nine before discounts? >> and it basically budgeted much of this in the year because they don't want inventory when they get into january so they are trying to clear it out as much as they can. then you have a horrible christmas squeeze, lack of traffic in the stores, so they just want to get it out so they can get new spring merchandise in full price and get people buying again. buy whenople actually they have spring merchandise in january? it is not warm. >> cruisewear. >> tom is going on a cruise. they now know it is not necessarily spring merchandise but fres

>> neiman marcus does it every year for their catalogs.hey have the falconry training set. but it's $150,000 and you even get a little -- a pressure skin helmet, you get a perch, a cigar case. >> and that's how much? $150,000. and the other one that you and i would probably wish for more is the roughing it diamonds experience for $1.8 million. you receive a rough 25 karat diamond and you can go to namibia and have it cut to your liking. >> thanks so much for that, i'm carolin roth. happy holidays .merry christmas, everyone. i'm see you on friday. >>> good morning. the day's top stories, it's the final christmas shopping rush. retailers staying open around the clock. in global news, china's central bank injecting nearly $5 billion in the financial system in a bid to end the cash crunch. >>> plus, here at home, stocks rising to record levels. is it possible the nasdaq actually matches those late '90 levels? we're getting close, tuesday, december 24th, 2013. "squawk box" begins right now. >>> good morning and welcome to "squawk box" here on c

in our world, we try to stay with the top flight brands, neiman marcus, bloomingdales, macy's. >> needig food court? >> not necessarily. food courts are a part of the business depending on which markets you're trying to serve. i think great sit-down restaurants with the complement of food course uses and other unique food offerings that really speak to different groups is very important to have as part of the offering of your shopping development. >> all right. just -- is there -- between now and the next five years, do you see more malls in the country? or will we will down 10%, 15%? >> i would say we'll be closer to being down 10% to 15% than being on the upswing. some of the older shopping centers, the ones that haven't kept current with the times don't have current stores that are speaking to the shopping public today are the ones really going to suffer. >> all right. thank you. merry christmas, i hope you have a great season, happy new year, happy holiday. make sure i cover all my bases. thanks, see ya. >> thank you. >> when we come back, is the talk about taper starting to taper

he's only in stores like neiman marcus.>> second today we have these beautiful necklaces, they are known for their glass shape clover. and the necklaces are sterling silver. we grabbed two special models today wearing them. we have nancy on her 67th birthday. and then we also have brianna who is freezing her you know what off from georgia and she's wearings longer version. there are three different lengths. they start at about $197. you can get them for as little as $49. >> wow. >> so another 70% discount. today.com to get the codes and shop away. only good for 24 hours. >> so get online. nancy, happy birthday. hope you get to keep the necklace. now over to matt. >> narrator: the toyota concert series on "today" brought to you by toyota. >>> the popular acapella group pentatonix burst on the scene back in 2011. they won the season of singoff and have released two albums each day booing in the top ten. pentatonix, guy, good morning to all of you.booing in the top te. pentatonix, guy, good morning to all of you. li let's star