Las Vegas Sands Corp. is considering selling its casinos on The Strip for $6 billion. The decision will probably mean that Sheldon Adelson will leave the business.
The casino operator is looking to dispose of the Venetian Resort, Sands Expo Convention Center and the Palazzo, according to sources who asked not to be named. Las Vegas Sands is expected to concentrate on its Singapore and Macao operations should the sale of the properties go through.
Majority owned by Adelson, the $37.5 billion gambling company is working with financial advisers to attract potential buyers, Bloomberg News reported. The Palazzo and Venetian resorts may have a market value of $6 billion if the deal is signed.
Casinos in Macao, the largest gambling market in the world, earned more than 60% of Las Vegas Sands' nearly $14 billion in sales last year before the pandemic broke out.
Las Vegas is struggling to entice both local and foreign tourists as a result of the world health emergency. A representative for the company said it was in early talks about a sale and that negotiations were continuing.
Adelson is listed as among the wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune estimated at almost $30 billion. His business in the U.S. was already seeing a slowing - accounting for just less than 15% of sales in 2019. The gambling market is one of the hardest hit businesses by the coronavirus. As of June 30 this year it had nearly $14 billion in debt.
According to company president and chief operating officer Rob Goldstein, it "cannot perform" without the return of revenue-generating businesses like conventions - from which the casino lost around $1 billion in the second quarter. "It cannot make money with limited hotel occupancy," USA Today quoted Goldstein as saying.
