New York billionaire investor Carl Icahn keeps growing his Bet at Las Vegas Resort and casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp., as he’s pressing the company to merge with a rival operator or Market itself
GuruFocus mentioned earlier this week that the activist investor has bought 20,724,421 shares of one of the world’s largest hospitality and casino operators, upping his holding into 20.88%. News about Mr. Icahn’s interest in Caesars first surfaced in January. Back then, it was unknown just how much of Caesars inventory the businessman had gathered.
He confirmed that he had started building a stake in the company last month. Mr. Icahn’s interest in Caesars represented nearly 10% in company stock at the time. The businessman has added over 10% of Caesars shares in the subsequent weeks.
It became known earlier this month that the New York investor has come to be the organization ’s largest shareholder. His holding in Caesars stood at 15.53% upon that statement. Casino News Daily reported earlier this week that the billionaire businessman has increased his bet to 17.75%, adding 15 million shares.
According to GuruFocus, the latest transaction occurred on Monday and involved Mr. Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises purchasing 20.7 million shares of the casino powerhouse to raise his holding into 20.88%.
What’s & rsquo;s Next for Caesars?
Aside from creating a stake in the gaming and hospitality company, Mr. Icahn has also secured a board representation. Earlier this month, Caesars has consented to appoint three new associates of its Board of Directors who were appointed by its new largest stakeholder.
Under a recently penned arrangement between Mr. Icahn and the Las Vegas-headquartered firm, the businessman will be able to mention a fourth manager if Caesars neglects to discover a replacement of its departing CEO Mark Frissora within 45 days.
Mr. Frissora was originally expected to step down in February, but it had been announced that he would remain with the firm until April. Sources knowledgeable about the matter have said that Mr. Icahn needs a person with considerable experience in the gambling industry to substitute Caesars’ Deadly Chief. The company has reportedly told the businessman that it would consider his proposal to appoint Affinity Gaming CEO Anthony Rodio because its top executive.
As stated before, Mr. Icahn has been pushing Caesars to combine or market itself since he believes that this is ldquo;the best path forward for the company. ”
The gaming and hospitality operator announced earlier this week plans to cut back its own corporate workforce to reduce annual costs by $40 million. Caesars further explained that many of the jobs cut could be places which are currently vacant. All affected employees would be offered severance packages, the firm also said.
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