Las Vegas Sands Owner Among Troubled Casino Billionaires
For years the modus operandi in Las Vegas has been to attempt to one-up one another, as each casino empire tried to build the biggest, most elaborate resort yet. A casino could be only months old before the owner was pouring in more money, looking to stay ahead of the competition.
But that business model has trapped some of the richest men in America. As the credit market has frozen up, casino owners have found themselves with huge liquidity problems. The assumption that their industry, with its massive cash flow, could ever have trouble getting financing was dismissed, until now.
Sheldon Adelson made Forbes' list of the richest men in the world, as the third-richest CEO. But increasing credit troubles, combined with a total loss of investor confidence, have caused Adelson to lose more than half his wealth in less than a year.
While estimates are that Adelson is still worth $11 billion, over $16 billion of his fortune has disappeared. He owns fifty-two percent of Las Vegas Sands, the gaming company whose signature property is the Venetian Casino and Hotel.
Las Vegas Sands stock has dropped from $148 a share to under $5, and it's still dropping. Adelson was forced a few weeks ago to loan his company $475 million so that it could meet liquidity requirements in a financing covenant. A $3 billion loan to finish a project in Macau is being sought, and lenders have not materialized.
The controlling shareholder in MGM Mirage, Kirk Kerkorian, has been doubly hit by the market. He is trying to find funding to complete the massive CityCenter casino-hotel complex in Las Vegas,while the company's stock is off by ninety percent from a year ago.
Meanwhile, Kerkorian had used his ownership in MGM to buy significant shares of Ford Motor, which has also collapsed. Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation is busy trying to sell off its Ford shares, but the question is what then happens to the loan extended to buy those shares.
Harrah's Entertainment went private last year, but doing so forced the company to take on almost $24 billion in debt.
Some analysts have suggested these casino giants have so overextended themselves, only bankruptcy protection may allow them to reorganize their debts and save the companies.
