{"id":8349,"date":"2012-01-24T11:03:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T19:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=8349"},"modified":"2023-08-14T06:58:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T14:58:32","slug":"when-executives-attack-sheldons-new-beard-wall-street-loves-it-some-mgm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/when-executives-attack-sheldons-new-beard-wall-street-loves-it-some-mgm\/","title":{"rendered":"When executives attack; Sheldon’s new beard; Wall Street loves it some MGM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Few YouTube<\/strong> feeds are more prolific and state of the art than that of Station Casinos<\/strong> (although they really ought to think twice about posting cell-phone footage online<\/a>; it looks rinky-dink). However, what you will not<\/em> see is an ad campaign<\/a> airing on Southern Nevada<\/strong> TV stations, railing against the Culinary Union<\/strong> for engaging in — gasp!<\/em> — activism<\/a>. Unheard of! (Which is not to certain excuse Culinary tactics that sound like harassment to me<\/a>.) Of the three spots I’ve seen, two feature high-level executives<\/a> who A)<\/strong> aren’t eligible for union membership anyway and B)<\/strong> are unlikely to see their jobs at risk — although one of the ads depicts a Vice President Of Sales whining that her job is in peril<\/a>. (Trust me, lady, the rank-and-file will get the chop long before you do. And Station employees who are reliant upon the tender mercies of upper management — and have seen their 401[k]<\/a> matches stopped during the Colony Capital<\/strong> fiasco — might well like the looks of the Culinary’s pension plan instead.)<\/p>\n

The latest line of attack is that the Culinary is trying to stop people from getting married in Vegas<\/em>! The deuce you say? Why those vile blackguards! Unhand that casino, you footpads!<\/p>\n

The last time I looked, there was no shortage of opportunities to tie the knot here. Besides, based on recent history<\/a>, maybe people should stop and think before they plunge into Ye Olde Quickie Vegas Wedding (especially if they plan to cap the evening by cruising the mean streets, scoring drugs<\/a>). Anyway, thanks to LVLefty702<\/strong> for preserving the grotty, camp-classic TV ad in which bleary-eyed Station exec Vincent Barile<\/strong> looks like he’s either just crawled out of bed or has spent the last three nights drawing to inside straights in a smoky poker room. Dude, you’re representing a Fortune 500<\/strong> company. Spruce up! And make the acquaintance of a razor while you’re at it.<\/p>\n

\"\"For those following<\/strong> The New(t) Adventures of Sheldon Adelson<\/em>, the Doge of Venelazzo is planning to dump $5 million into Florida … and not on casino development<\/a>. I’ll let you decide which is more newsworthy: Sheldon taking his eye off the ball while Genting<\/strong> is rolling up the score in the Sunshine State or the fact that he hid behind his wife’s skirts to make this latest cash drop. While I disapprove of Texas<\/strong> Gov. Rick Perry<\/strong>‘s disapproval of casinos, contributions to his latest reelection bid from Adelson and the Fertitta Brothers<\/strong> haven’t swayed his views. You have to admire that, unlike Florida’s Invertebrate-in-Chief, Rick Scott<\/strong>, whose principles could be had in return for a night’s stay at The House That Sheldon Built. (Meanwhile, Jon Ralston<\/strong> reminds us of El Bombastico’s long history of spitting into the wind<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Bullish on MGM<\/strong>. You’ll not go broke betting on Wynn Resorts<\/strong>, as Wall Street<\/strong> analysts continue to do. However, BMO Capital Markets<\/strong>‘ Jeffrey Logsdon<\/strong> goes way on a limb for MGM Resorts International<\/strong>. It’s not the steadily improving metrics on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> that raise one’s eyebrows but a couple of outright assumptions<\/a> that Logsdon factors into his price target. MGM’s share of Borgata revenue is still under lock and key but the analyst figures the company will book a $330 million score because “he expects a buyer to emerge and a deal to be announced this year<\/em>.” Yeah, we expected that last year … and the year before … and so on. Besides, the projected sale price of $100 million-$150 million looks like chicken feed relative to the property’s annual gross — a metric of how low the Atlantic City<\/strong> market has fallen. (Seriously, at that price, 50% of Borgata would be the deal of the year. I can think of several companies who can afford that buy-in and may be missing a low-risk\/high-reward opportunity here.) Secondly, Logsdon assumes construction of MGM’s Cotai Strip<\/strong> megaresort, underwritten by an MGM Grand Paradise<\/strong> that’s recouped its cost and is “gushing cash,” will begin in 2012. If there’s anything we know for certain about the Macao<\/strong> government, it’s that it likes to keep the casino barons and tenterhooks while the development-approval process creeps glacially forward. Just ask CEO Jim Murren<\/strong>, who’s made no secret of his impatience but is finding that you can’t fight City Hall … not that one, anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few YouTube feeds are more prolific and state of the art than that of Station Casinos (although they really ought to think twice about posting cell-phone footage online; it looks rinky-dink). However, what you will not see is an ad … 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":[23,60,3,151,28,26,36,62,11,12,57,114,17,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349"}],"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=8349"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32845,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions\/32845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}