{"id":15247,"date":"2014-12-18T14:42:25","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T22:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15247"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:09:40","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T17:09:40","slug":"icahn-saves-taj-kinda-sorta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/icahn-saves-taj-kinda-sorta\/","title":{"rendered":"Icahn saves Taj, kinda sorta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>‘s fate seesaws by the day, if not the hour. According to the New York Post<\/em>, Unite-Here<\/strong> Local 54 “got pretty much what it wanted<\/a>” from Carl Icahn<\/strong> and “all work rules” will be reinstated. Icahn did persuade\u00a0Local 54’s Robert McDevitt<\/strong> to put pension payments \"icahn\"<\/a>into a Taj-only fund, the one significant concession made by the union, other than the abandonment of its bankruptcy-court appeal<\/a>. Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R) and his gaming-industry liaison, Jon Hanson<\/strong>, were\u00a0credited with bringing all parties together. According to the union, Trump Entertainment Resorts<\/strong> CEO Robert Griffin<\/strong> put his signature on the pact … and then Icahn got cold feet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The mogul promises this won’t be the Taj’s doom. He’s ponied up $20 million, writing,\u00a0“Even though I believe that Atlantic City<\/strong> will be great again someday, many people would still argue that it would be a better financial decision for me to let the Taj close.\u00a0But I cannot be so callous as to let 3,000 hardworking people lose their jobs.” McDevitt’s reaction was,\u00a0“We and everybody else thought we could start moving Atlantic City forward, but it is unfortunate that one person could put the brakes on all that.” Griffin is uncharacteristically keeping mum. Icahn had stark\u00a0words for\u00a0TER, calling it\u00a0“one of the most distressed companies I have ever come across in my 50+ years of investing.” (The harshest words he had for the union were “questionable decision-making.”)<\/p>\n

McDevitt needs a ‘win’ badly on this one. If not, the March contract talks with four other casinos — including Borgata<\/strong> — might devolve into a question of how many give-backs\u00a0Unite-\"Rodio\"<\/a>Here was going to make. Also, the accord would pave the way for Icahn to take control of the Taj and, we sincerely hope, clean house in upper management. A dose of Tropicana Casino & Resort<\/strong> CEO Tony Rodio<\/strong>\u00a0(right<\/em>) would seem to be just what the doctor ordered. (Problem One: What to do with eyesore Trump Plaza<\/strong>?) The entry of Icahn and exit of Marc Lasry<\/strong>‘s ownership group would finally make it possible to take the discredited Trump moniker off the casino. When the worst-performing casino in Atlantic City<\/strong> is the one with The Donald’s name on it, it’s fair to say that different brand equity is in order.<\/p>\n

Icahn concessions to Unite-Here would give state Senate President Steve Sweeney<\/strong> (D) political cover to gift-wrap Uncle Carl a $150 million package of tax breaks. However, Santa Sweeney may be setting a dangerous (to him) precedent, as now every other casino in Atlantic City will have darn good reason to demand, “Me too!” Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Glenn Straub<\/strong> leading the protest march, given his colossally costly\u00a0plans for Revel<\/strong>. OK, that deal hasn’t closed yet, but it looks like it’s only a matter of time.<\/p>\n

* Things could get very<\/em> interesting at Sam Nazarian<\/strong>‘s Nevada Gaming Commission<\/strong> hearing if Derrick “Smokey” Armstrong<\/strong> shows up to testify, as he threatens to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump Taj Mahal‘s fate seesaws by the day, if not the hour. According to the New York Post, Unite-Here Local 54 “got pretty much what it wanted” from Carl Icahn and “all work rules” will be reinstated. Icahn did persuade\u00a0Local … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,82,42,14,33,25,162,21,169],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15247"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22399,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15247\/revisions\/22399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}