Wynn Resorts
Articles
Article Title: As Las Vegas Slumps, Wynn Doubles Down
Intro: Mr. Wynn's decision to continue to spend lavishly during one of the worst crises to hit Las Vegas in years may seem foolhardy.
Excerpts:
Casino companies have been slashing costs, delaying projects or looking for fresh capital as they grapple with the worst drop in consumer spending in years.
And then there is Steve Wynn. His company, Wynn Resorts Ltd., is installing Italian tile and crystal chandeliers as it prepares for the December opening of Encore, a $2.3 billion resort expected to hit new heights of glitz even by this city's standards.
And then there is Steve Wynn. His company, Wynn Resorts Ltd., is installing Italian tile and crystal chandeliers as it prepares for the December opening of Encore, a $2.3 billion resort expected to hit new heights of glitz even by this city's standards.
Article Title: Wynn Resorts Talks Liquidity, Vegas, Gamblers
Intro: " I think right now Las Vegas is seeing pretty much some of the worst of it"
Excerpts:
US gamblers held onto their wallets with clenched fists in the third quarter but Wynn Resorts but a strong showing in Macau, a strong balance sheet and expectations of a more relaxed US gambler in the coming months has Wynn Resorts and its investors confident in the long-term future of the company, both abroad and in Vegas.
Steve Wynn, the company’s candid chairman and chief executive, described Las Vegas as “a little murky,” which he said is to be expected. “It would strike me that if you were a citizen, rational, education person, certainly somebody who had the accomplishment and success in life to be a customer of ours, if you were watching TV or reading the newspapers you would have to be half nuts to spend money instead of waiting around and checking things out to see how the world is going to shake out,” he said. “This is like after 9/11. Cable communication and all the rest exaggerate. Everything is hyperbolic. Everything is exaggerated. Everything is a big story of the moment and in this particular case we have reality that is tough enough and then when you amplify it with all of the news sources and all the talking heads and all the people who think they have a right or weigh in on the subject, not to mention the rhetoric of the campaign, all of this…if the public isn’t jolted then the public is totally immune to being jolted.
Speaking of Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, Steve Wynn said that while 95% occupancy has been pretty typical over the last 40 years in Las Vegas he isn’t expecting occupancy at Encore to top 90% and, if mid-week remains soft, may end up in the low 80s for 2009. To counter that, Wynn says it will not be letting people go but rather likely simply won’t make as many new hires and won’t backfill jobs that go vacant due to attrition.