When Blackstone announced the sale of the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas to MGM Resorts last year for $5.6 billion, it was nearly $4 billion more than they paid for it a few years earlier. The deal is about to close so when Blackstone executives called an employee meeting, most thought it would just be about the transition to the new owners.
So when outgoing President Bill McBeath told the meeting that as a parting gift, Blackstone was offering all 5,400 employees a $5,000 bonus, the place went wild.
“We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished at the Cosmopolitan under our ownership to create the most dynamic destination on the Las Vegas Strip. We know that none of that would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the resort’s amazing employees, and we are thrilled to recognize those contributions,” said Tyler Henritze, head of strategic investments for Blackstone Real Estate.
The 3,000-room property opened in 2010 but quickly fell into financial turmoil when Blackstone bought it in 2014 for $1.7 billion, and spent another $500 million renovating hotel rooms. Former MGM executive McBeath was brought in to bring some sense to the massive property and today it’s one of the premier resorts on the Strip.
In addition to the $27 million in bonuses, employees were recognized with such prizes as trips to Hawaii and California.
