[Willy702]

Originally Posted by robr2

Is Wynn Corp up for sale or are folks just tossing out what if's?

Not for sale yet, but hard to imagine it not being sold. Las Vegas gaming is just selling at such high valuations these days there is little reason to hold onto it if you are a Wynn shareholder.

[newopty]

Originally Posted by robr2

Is Wynn Corp up for sale or are folks just tossing out what if's?

Wynn is not officially up for sale but when the founder leaves and sells all of his stock there is reason to speculate. The new CEO has said it is not for sale. No one controls enough stock so if someone wants to go after it they probably couldn't stop it.

My guess is it will be broken up into pieces.

[robr2]

Okay, so there's no specific plan for a buyout by someone else.

Wynn leaving is a little different than say Jeff Bezos cashing out and leaving AMZN - the former did so under a black cloud and his involvement even simply as a shareholder, wasn't in the best interest of the company.

It's possible it just chugs along as the board doesn't have to consider any offer that isn't in the best interests of the shareholders.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by robr2

Okay, so there's no specific plan for a buyout by someone else.

Wynn leaving is a little different than say Jeff Bezos cashing out and leaving AMZN - the former did so under a black cloud and his involvement even simply as a shareholder, wasn't in the best interest of the company.

It's possible it just chugs along as the board doesn't have to consider any offer that isn't in the best interests of the shareholders.

They aren't going to sit around and wait and see what offers are made unsolicited. Very likely they will hire bankers and run a process to sell the Macau assets first, then follow up with a process to sell the North American business. Their CEO and CFO are former investment bankers, that might help remove any doubts you have about how they will proceed.

[newopty]

Originally Posted by robr2

Okay, so there's no specific plan for a buyout by someone else.

Wynn leaving is a little different than say Jeff Bezos cashing out and leaving AMZN - the former did so under a black cloud and his involvement even simply as a shareholder, wasn't in the best interest of the company.

It's possible it just chugs along as the board doesn't have to consider any offer that isn't in the best interests of the shareholders.

Nothing stopping someone from going hostile if the board doesn't agree.

[BBMW]

While I don't know what Wynn has done, but a lot of corporations set up mechanisms to prevent that from working.

Originally Posted by newopty

Nothing stopping someone from going hostile if the board doesn't agree.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by Willy702

They aren't going to sit around and wait and see what offers are made unsolicited. Very likely they will hire bankers and run a process to sell the Macau assets first, then follow up with a process to sell the North American business. Their CEO and CFO are former investment bankers, that might help remove any doubts you have about how they will proceed.

But is there a reason for them to do so? If the company is making money, the shareholders are happy, et al, why would they be shopping it around?

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by robr2

But is there a reason for them to do so? If the company is making money, the shareholders are happy, et al, why would they be shopping it around?

Shareholders aren't happy if they don't try to sell it. There is a sale premium now building into the stock, if they don't at least start a process those buyers will start selling and stock goes down. On an operational level it's really hard to do high end and VIP like Steve Wynn. Can maintain it for a few years but it will eventually catch up to them.

[BBMW]

MGM has a number of properties that cater to the Whale market, and they're full on bland corporate. They have Bellagio, the Mansions at MGM, etc. How are they doing with it?

And if they can do it, why couldn't someone who bought Wynn (especially if the buyers know what they're doing.) After all, they'd be inheriting all the management, staff and infrastructure that made it work.

Originally Posted by Willy702

Shareholders aren't happy if they don't try to sell it. There is a sale premium now building into the stock, if they don't at least start a process those buyers will start selling and stock goes down. On an operational level it's really hard to do high end and VIP like Steve Wynn. Can maintain it for a few years but it will eventually catch up to them.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by BBMW

MGM has a number of properties that cater to the Whale market, and they're full on bland corporate. They have Bellagio, the Mansions at MGM, etc. How are they doing with it?

And if they can do it, why couldn't someone who bought Wynn (especially if the buyers know what they're doing.) After all, they'd be inheriting all the management, staff and infrastructure that made it work.

They do it on price. Their VIPs are the least profitable on the Strip because they have to give away more than most to get them to play. Bellagio does well because it is targeted at the market below the VIP player these days. Its still a nice place, but clearly a few other locations are beginning to pass it. The revamp of the restaurants has only been so so and the lack of a truly solid nightclub are hurting them in some ways, but they can always just offer more money and still get some of their action. Problem is they just don't make much money on it.

Steve just got the details right and continued to do so. He made the changes consistently to keep his place a step above the rest. And for it he gets the loyalty of the highest end without having to be so promotional. Like everyone else he realized the things he was creating for the whales and the slightly less valuable VIPs were things he could monetize with the premium customer, but he doesn't build things for the premium customer and then hope the VIP player will enjoy it too. His lake idea if it goes forward may still prove he had the right idea, but do have to wonder if he's not there watching the details if they hit the target just right.

There are VIP level players at many properties, including some you wouldn't guess. They are bought off, plain and simple. Offer them enough of your margin and you can try to win the last few percent. If it works great, your numbers will look good. If it doesn't, oh well nice try hopefully you have enough other properties you can hide that problem and investors won't ask.