Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., will take over as chief executive officer of the Macau corporation following the retirement of the division’s chairman.
The move comes as Macau, which provides Las Vegas Sands with more than 65% of the company’s total revenue, is experiencing its worst game slump ever.
The company’s Sands China Limited will replace Edward Tracy, whose retirement was announced in a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week by 81-year-old billionaire and company founder Adelson in a statement Friday. 슬롯머신
Adelson, who controls more than 53 percent of Las Vegas Sands through private and family ownership, is also the parent company’s CEO. He will take over on Mar. 6. Rob Goldstein, president of Las Vegas Sands, will become the interim president of Sands China.
Goldstein, who has been with Las Vegas Sands since 1995, was appointed president of the company in December after Michael Leven retired.
Tracy, 62, is expected to remain a consultant, according to an SEC filing. He was the CEO of Sands China for more than three years.
Las Vegas Sands has the largest stake in three Nevada-based companies operating in Macau: Venetian Macau Resort-Hotel, Sands Macao, Four Seasons Macao and Multi-Hotel Sands Cotai Central Complex.
The company is developing a $2.7 billion Paris-themed Kotai Macao, which is expected to open another hotel on the Sands Kotai site this year and is expected to open in 2016. In December, the company said it received the final government approval needed to complete a project that will have 3,000 hotel rooms and a 50% replica of the Eiffel Tower.
The company said its total investment in Macau was $10 billion, including retail, convention and conference spaces and hotel rooms.
“I wouldn’t expect any change from a strategic perspective, because business strategies have always been determined by Mr. Adelson,” Koh Sheng-yong, a Hong Kong-based gaming analyst at BNP Paribas, told Bloomberg News. “This would be more about coordinating for Macau and Singapore to report directly to Vegas.”
Las Vegas Sands operates Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which is not part of the changes in Macau.
Overall, Macau’s 35 large and small casinos saw gaming sales fall 2.6% to $44.1 billion in 2014, marking the first annual decline in the region.
Macao saw its monthly gaming sales fall for the seventh straight time, and it fell 30.4% in December, the largest monthly drop in the market history.
Macau’s casino industry has been struggling since June. The Chinese government’s crackdown on corruption has focused on junket operators who bring luxury Bakara gamblers to the casinos’ ultra-specialized private gambling houses. Several operators have been linked to the Chinese organized crime triad.
The crackdown threatened high-end businesses largely responsible for Macau’s total gaming revenue of $45.2 billion in 2013.
Las Vegas Sands is set to report its fourth-quarter and year-end results next week. Adelson is expected to address Macau on a conference call with analysts.
In a keynote speech at the Global Games Fair in October, Adelson expressed his belief that Macau will recover.
“Macao is periodic. It comes and goes,” Adelson said.
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