From bingo to Ocean's Eleven: man behind firm eyeing Packer's Crown
While James Packer’s personal life may be in turmoil, the company seeking to take control of his Crown Resorts and its signature development in his hometown, is also in a world of turmoil, threatening key executives and their gaming licences.
Wynn Resorts was founded in 2002 by Steve Wynn, now a 77-year-old American billionaire, who was forced to resign from his empire last year following a Wall Street Journal investigation into “the man who built modern Las Vegas”.
He’s the man that Terry Benedict, the ruthless casino owner in the Hollywood film Ocean’s Eleven, played by Andy Garcia, is reportedly loosely based on.
He’s a friend and former fundraiser for Donald Trump.
He's also the man who sold an original Picasso, Le Reve, for US$139 million - and then accidentally put a hole in it with his elbow while showing the work to guests in his office.
The son of a bingo parlour operator, Mr Wynn took over the struggling business after his father's death and moved into Las Vegas casinos in 1967 and built the The Mirage and The Bellagio.
Today, Wynn Resorts is valued at US$15 billion and owns two casinos in Las Vegas, Wynn and Encore, with plans for another in Las Vegas and one in Boston. It owns three in Macau.
But Mr Wynn, with a personal wealth valued at US$3 billion by Forbes, was also the most prominent corporate chieftain to fall to a #MeToo era scandal, forced out last year by allegations of sexual misconduct.
Wynn Resorts employees and others described a CEO who pressured workers to perform sex acts in a sexualised workplace.
A manicurist who accused Mr Wynn of sexual assault won a US$7.5 million settlement in 2009 but Wynn supposedly never told the company. Mr Wynn denies all the allegations.
As the scandal engulfed the company last year, Mr Wynn first resigned and then sold his stake in the company bearing his name. It came as he battled divorce proceedings - for the second time - against ex-wife, Elaine.
But as The Boston Globe reported recently, his “ugly legacy” remains.
Mr Wynn handpicked his successor Matt Maddox to run Wynn Resorts, and his former wife Elaine controls the largest share of privately held stock.
“They are links to a sordid past that affects the current corporate culture, even as Wynn Resorts claims to be a new company,” the Globe wrote this week.
When regulators examined Wynn Resorts for its suitability to hold a gaming licence four years after the secret harassment settlement, they weren’t told anything about it.
“Wynn Resorts has new board members who say they are committed to transparency and sweeping corporate reforms,” wrote Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi. “Behind the scenes, there’s dysfunction at the top, another direct link back to Steve Wynn’s legacy.”
Mr Wynn is impeccably connected. Last week, when US President Trump stepped off Air Force One in Las Vegas, he was greeted on the tarmac by Mr Wynn, a long-time business rival and friend who was a major fundraiser for Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr Wynn is also well known to James Packer. When Mr Packer made his foray into Macau casinos a decade ago, he did so purchasing a casino licence from Mr Wynn. Mr Packer would later tell shareholders he turned that US$600 million investment into a US$6 billion windfall.
"I think Steve Wynn is the greatest developer in the world," Mr Packer said in an interview with The Australian Financial Review in 2012. He was also reported to have attended Mr Wynn's wedding in 2011.
As Mr Packer’s troubled world appears to move further away from corporate involvement, his greatest prize overlooking Sydney Harbour may go to the hands of operators with problems of their own.
Mr Packer's personal wealth surged as much as $800 million on Tuesday as shareholders pushed up the value of his stake on news of the takeover approach.