After Sheldon Adelson’s Death, Las Vegas Sands Looks To Double Down On Asia, Expand To New…


Las Vegas Sands, which was founded by the late billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, held its first earnings call this week since its leader passed away. Despite Adelson being gone, his strategy for the company will be carried out, said Rob Goldstein, who was appointed CEO and chairman on Tuesday.

“As you know, his middle name was ‘G’ for growth,” Goldstein said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday. “Sheldon would be in the room saying, I’m laser-focused on returns and growth.”

For Las Vegas Sands, a focus on growth means a focus on its properties in Asia, which is where most of the company’s profits come from. The Las Vegas Sands’ properties in Macau generate 59% of the company’s revenue while 31% comes from its casino-hotel in Singapore.

“We’ve always believed there’s no better market for our company to invest in than Macau,” said Goldstein.

Over the next four years, Las Vegas Sands plans to invest another $5.5 billion across Macau and Singapore to improve its existing properties. In February, the Sands will open phase one of its brand-new $2 billion project on the Cotai Strip—the Londoner Macau, complete with a replica of the U.K. Parliament and “Big Ben.”

The company has invested a total of $15 billion across five properties in Macau since Adelson, who died January 11 from complications related to the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, opened his first casino there in 2004.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has given Las Vegas Sands a beating—the company reported a $1.69 billion net loss in 2020, compared to net income of $2.7 billion in 2019—it reported positive earnings in both Macau and Singapore for the fourth quarter of 2020.

There is some uncertainty around Macau, its most important market. In 2022, Las Vegas Sands’ casino license will expire, and the company is still waiting to get more details from the Macanese authorities about the license renewal process. Goldstein said he believes the government will base their decisions around how much a company has invested in its properties.  

“I believe when Macau makes his decision, there’s going to be a requirement to invest more in Macau, which as Sheldon himself [would’ve said], ‘Well, I can’t wait to invest $5 billion, $10 billion,’” said Goldstein.

As for the future of the Sands’ Las Vegas properties, the Palazzo, the Venetian and the Sands Expo Center, which collectively only account for 10% of the company’s revenue, president and chief operating officer Patrick Dumont was coy.

In October, the company confirmed reports that it was exploring a sale of assets on the Vegas Strip for more than $6 billion. At one point during the company’s earnings call Dumont said they’re bullish on Vegas’ rebound as an “irreplaceable” tourist destination. Later, when pressed by an analyst whether the company is going to sell its Vegas properties, Dumont said: “If there’s a way to maximize shareholder returns, we’re going to do it. And we constantly look at the assets that we have in our portfolio.”

One of the cities Adelson had always wanted to expand to was New York. The state can issue three new casino licenses in 2023 and gambling interests are lobbying officials to allow another casino in the city.

Goldstein said Las Vegas Sands is on “the hunt” in New York.

“Well, we’ve been looking at New York for about 100 years it seems like. We’re big believers in New York,” he says.

Las Vegas Sands also has its eye on Texas, where it has been spending millions of dollars on lobbying in an effort to allow for a casino, according to public records.

“On Texas, obviously, extraordinary market, we’re kicking the tires down there too,” said Goldstein. “You can’t deny the power of Texas and the size and scale.”

In a report released this week, Chad Beynon, an analyst at Macquarie Capital, gave Las Vegas Sands an “outperform” rating. He says the balance sheet is one of the most attractive in the industry with $2.14 billion in cash and he believes Sands will continue to invest more capital in Macau, where the company expects a 20% return.

Even though Sands lost Adelson, Beynon says he expects “little disruption” in the company’s strategy.

“Sheldon’s strategy has always been heavily focused on Asia. But always in the back of his head were the bigger U.S. opportunities,” says Beynon. “Texas has been in the scuttle for decades … he’d always been interested in New York.”

As for Goldstein, who took the torch from his former boss and mentor on Tuesday, he said that he not looking to recreate the wheel. “The DNA of the company that Sheldon founded will remain ever-present,” Goldstein said.

Part of the Adelson DNA was dividends. Adelson was known for reciting his favorite catchphrase—“Yay, dividends!”—during the company’s earnings calls. Starting in 2012, Las Vegas Sands issued dividends every quarter but the company stopped the shareholder payments last year due to the pandemic.

“I look forward to the day, we can say, ‘Yay, dividends,’” said Goldstein.



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