Wynn Macau shares surge 6 per cent as new managers replace Steve Wynn

Wynn Macau saw its shares surge on Thursday morning in Hong Kong after it appointed new senior executives to replace founder Steve Wynn who had stepped down in the wake of allegations he had sexually harassed employees.

Shares of the company, one of the six major casino operators in Macau, jumped as much as 6 per cent half an hour into the trading session to HK$26.5, compared with its closing price of HK$24.9 on Tuesday.

It followed news that Matthew Maddox, a long-serving Wynn executive, has replaced Steve Wynn as chief executive of Wynn Macau and parent company Wynn Resorts. Hong Kong entertainment tycoon Allan Zeman, known locally as the “Father of Lan Kwai Fong”, was named as non-executive chairman of Wynn Macau.

Trading in the company’s shares in Hong Kong was suspended on Wednesday, after Steve Wynn announced he was quitting as chief executive of Las vegas-based Wynn Resorts and from all of his posts at Wynn Macau, which contributes more than 70 per cent of the group’s revenue.

Shares of Wynn Resorts rebounded on Wednesday, adding 8.6 per cent on the Nasdaq, following Wynn’s resignation.

It was the right decision for Wynn to quit all his posts, or at least to separate himself from the sprawling gambling empire that he built over the years, said industry observers.

Shares of both Wynn Macau and Wynn Resorts took a hammering at the end of last month, after news emerged that the man who had helped transform Las Vegas into the world’s most famous gaming hub, had been accused by former and current employees of a decades-long pattern of sexual assault. Wynn denied the accusations, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, branding them “preposterous” in a statement.

Shares of Wynn Macau shed as much as 12.3 per cent, while Nasdaq-listed Wynn Resorts lost 22 per cent the day after the news was published at the end of January.