STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with the Texas Rangers.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: We can now tell you that a group of investors won a federal bankruptcy auction early this morning to buy the baseball team. The investors are led by Hall of Fame pitcher and current Rangers president, Nolan Ryan. The franchise has been in bankruptcy since May. Ryan's winning bid for the team is worth $593 million. His group managed to beat out billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. The auction dragged on for 10 hours. And at one point, Cuban's side received a delivery of 10 pizzas in the courthouse. It's the first auction of a Major League Baseball team since the Baltimore Orioles were sold in 1993.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Forty of the country's wealthiest families and individuals have pledged to give at least half of their wealth to charity. It's part of a campaign led by billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who are both giving away most of their enormous fortunes. They're now joined by movie director George Lucas, former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill and software mogul Larry Ellison, among others. Buffett and Gates launched the effort earlier this year because the recession has cut into charitable giving for the past two years.
A group of investors won a federal bankruptcy auction early Thursday morning to buy the baseball team the Texas Rangers. In other business news, 40 of the country's wealthiest families and individuals have pledged to give at least half of their wealth to charity.