{"id":15992,"date":"2015-05-05T13:56:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15992"},"modified":"2015-05-08T12:28:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T20:28:55","slug":"crystals-for-sale-again-hit-and-run-sheldon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/crystals-for-sale-again-hit-and-run-sheldon\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystals for sale again; Hit-and-run Sheldon"},"content":{"rendered":"

MGM Resorts International<\/strong> isn’t hurting for cash, having just posted a $170 million profit for 1Q15, far outstripping analysts’ projections<\/a> (and despite an 11% falloff due \"crystals\"<\/a>to\u00a0Macao<\/strong>). However, its Crystals<\/strong> shopping mall is back on the market<\/a>, carrying a $1 billion price tag. The protracted absence of the\u00a0Conexpo-Con<\/strong>\/Agg<\/strong> show — not due back until 2017 — was another hurdle MGM overcame. The company also achieved a benchmark: the first-ever dividend payout on CityCenter<\/strong> to the tune of $400 million. You can say that the ‘new urbanism’ experiment was a long-shot bet by CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> that finally came in.<\/p>\n

Murren wasn’t busting any numbers out on the Mayweather-Pacquiao<\/strong> fight but allowed that it was one of MGM’s most successful events ever<\/a>. No surprise there. He also put in a good word for Las Vegas<\/strong>‘ police and fire departments, whose proactive strategy kept violence to a far-better-than-expected minimum. As for the MGM\/AEG<\/strong> arena, Murren said,\u00a0\u201cWe have signed contracts for over half of the suites and are in contact on about another 30% of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apologizing for the distraction created by Land & Buildings<\/strong>, Murren called its proxy slate of board candidates “truly unwarranted” and said that MGM could look into REIT opportunities on its own, thank you very much.\u00a0\u201cThe stock is done very well over the last five years, up 135% and I\u2019m proud that we\u2019ve been able to rebuild this company throughout this post-recession period,\u201d added Good King Murren.<\/p>\n

* No exorcisms are being performed at Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, according to CEO Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>. In ex-Sands China<\/strong> CEO Steven Jacobs<\/strong>‘ court filing, it accused the company \"Sheldon-Adelson\"<\/a>of a “process, which would be referred to as the \u2018exorcism strategy,\u2019 [which] was planned and carried out from Las Vegas.\u201d However, Adelson did himself no favors in the personal-character department<\/a> when he said that then-COO Michael Leven<\/strong> wanted to let Jacobs resign and do it in face-to-face fashion. Adelson overrode that, testifying,\u00a0\u201cHe was an evil person, and I wanted him out without the dignity of resigning,\u201d preferably excising him via a telephone call. (Leven has consistently come off as having more intestinal fortitude than\u00a0Adelson during these hearings.)<\/p>\n

The venerable Sands CEO continued to pile the invective on Jacobs, saying\u00a0the latter “never became important until he squealed like a pig to the government authorities and made up stories for this lawsuit,\u201d and that’s just for starters<\/a>. If Adelson’s intent is to so denigrate Jacobs’ character that he never works again, he’s doing a very good job of it.<\/p>\n