Wynn Resorts CEO Mark Maddox has assured investors that the company is putting the troubles of the recent past behind it and is aggressively pursuing opportunities to expand domestically and abroad.
Speaking earlier this month at the company’s annual meeting, Maddox outlined a growth trajectory largely in line with plans laid down by founder Steve Wynn, who resigned as chairman and CEO in February in response to widespread accusations that he routinely pressured female employees for sexual favors.
Not surprisingly, the meeting promised to be tumultuous. Regulators in Nevada and Massachusetts are investigating the accusations and the failures in corporate oversight they imply, the company is facing a barrage of shareholder lawsuits, and rebellious investors led by Wynn’s ex-wife Elaine Wynn, the company’s largest shareholder, have zeroed in on a boardroom they say was rife with cronyism and in thrall to Wynn. Two longtime directors, both close associates of her ex-husband’s, resigned on the eve of the meeting, which also saw shareholders vote down an executive compensation plan put forth by management, a show of independence that would have been unthinkable under Wynn’s rule.
In all, four directors have quit since he departed and sold all his stock. A fifth director has said he will not run for re-election when his term expires next year, and three new independent directors have been appointed, all of them women.
The accusations against Wynn also are under investigation by a special committee of the board headed by its other female director, former Southern Nevada water-use czar Pat Mulroy. Addressing the meeting, she said the panel has interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed millions of documents in preparation for releasing its findings later this year.
“We are not going to leave a single stone unturned and we are going to finish our work with the same diligence and energy level that we have been deploying for the last three months,” she said.
A key part of that work, she said, involves “looking at policies, procedures and protocols and hoping to create best-in-kind structures in preventing or avoiding future discrimination or harassment in this company”.
She added, “But we are also looking at this company with very much of a forward-looking glance.”
As is Maddox, who did not speak to any these events specifically and chose to focus instead on the future and the development opportunities it presents.
On the international front, he said the company will be among the global gaming giants pursuing IR projects in Japan and recently entertained 22 business people from that country interested in forming a consortium to pursue a license.
In Macau, the source of 60 percent of Wynn Resorts revenues, he said the company is mapping the next phase of expansion at Wynn Palace, its newest resort in the Chinese casino enclave.
Domestically, he made it a point to discount reports propagated by Elaine Wynn that the company is looking to sell the $2.5 billion resort it is building outside Boston.
On the Las Vegas Strip the company is moving ahead with construction of 400,000 square feet of MICE space and other large-scale attractions at the site of a former company-owned golf course adjoining its Wynn and Encore resorts. The project, first announced by Steve Wynn and dubbed “Paradise Park,” will include beaches, a lagoon, venues for water sports and outdoor theaters.
“My goal for what we do on the golf course is to bring things to Las Vegas that don’t exist,” Maddox said.
The company also is developing plans for 34 acres on the other side of the Strip purchased from James Packer’s Crown Resorts for $300 million in late 2017 during Wynn’s last weeks at the helm.
Maddox said construction of “the next great Las Vegas resort” will begin there once the Paradise Park complex is finished.
