David Sisk, the COO of Sands China, has resigned — the latest casualty of high executive turnover in Sheldon Adelson‘s fiefdom. You’d think that such instability in the upper ranks would give Wall Street an ulcer. But when Sands is posting revenues that are above expectations, that’ll buy a lot of Pepto-Bismol.
God help the public-pension funds that foolishly put money into the buyout of Caesars Entertainment. If that investment were any more of a dog it would bark. Shamelessly, Texas Pacific Group and Apollo (Mis)Management have been slurping away at the trough, widening Caesars losses by pocketing “transaction fees” (paying themselves for buying Caesars) and “monitoring fees.” But the investors aren’t mad because David Bonderman and Leon Black are sucking Caesars dry. No, they want a piece of the action. Both the states of Oregon and Rhode Island are clamoring for a cut.
Perhaps the reason Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo “called it ‘a clear misalignment of interest’ when fund investors had not seen any profits,” is that there haven’t been any profits to see. CEO Gary Loveman, who initiated the LBO, fucked Caesars over royally — becoming the world’s richest boffin in the process — and anybody who didn’t see a catastrophe in the making probably shouldn’t be handling large sums of money for others. Unite-Here, having watched employment at Caesars fall by 19,000 — in part because the LBO took effect in the teeth of the Great Recession — is understandably sore to see TPG and Apollo making out like bandits. (The union represents 18% of Caesars workforce.)
Unions won one on the East Coast, where dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino are unionized — unlike Las Vegas. Despite the casino’s ropey financial status, it was “george” to its dealer work force, including a pair of retroactive pay increases. Kudos to CEO Scott Butera for doing the right thing — and not pleading poverty when he’s also up in Massachusetts, throwing money about. He’s earned a day off from being “Woody.”
