Las Vegas Sands Corp, the casino company controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, plans to cut as many as 4,000 more jobs in Macau and Hong Kong after halting construction on its US$12 billion Cotai Strip development.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs will be eliminated by September, on top of the company’s workforce reduction to 17,500 from “close to 20,000” at its headcount peak in Macau, chief operating officer Michael Leven said in an interview.
Amid near-frozen credit markets, dwindling revenue and the risk of tripping loan covenants, Las Vegas Sands last year stopped work on a 20,000-room complex of hotels and casinos on Macau’s Cotai Strip and shelved the US$600 million St Regis Residences in Las Vegas and other projects in Pennsylvania. The company raised capital and cut worker hours and jobs to trim more than US$470 million in costs.
Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian Macao, the biggest casino resort in Asia, faces the prospect of increased competition when Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd opens its US$2.1 billion City of Dreams in the Cotai area.
The job cuts, which will reduce costs for Las Vegas Sands, constitute “a response to the opening of City of Dreams,” said Gabriel Chan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG. “We are more positive about growth in Macau but given there is more competition in Cotai, if the top line is not growing, you will have to cut costs.”
Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, is the world’s biggest gambling hub.
Additional staff for Singapore will be hired closer to the opening of the company’s casino there, Adelson, Las Vegas Sands chief executive officer and chairman, said in the joint interview in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
“At this stage of the game, when we need to tighten the belt, then we should have just-in-time employees, plus a little bit, plus a cushion,” he said.
The company wants to reduce Macau staff to between 13,000 and 14,000 until more are needed after construction resumes, possibly this year, Adelson said. Las Vegas Sands stopped building halfway through phases five and six, which include Shangri-La and St Regis hotels, apartments, a casino and mall.
The operating Macau properties “have matured to the extent where you now know what you need to effectively operate,” Leven said.
“When you open new properties, generally speaking you run on the high side of staffing and requirements because you don’t have really a knowledge of what the volumes will be in all the areas, so you have to make adjustments and it’s not unusual, after opening six or eight months to be able to right size,” he said.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu