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This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's fortune has fallen $24 billion since the beginning of 2008 as shares of his Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) have dropped 95% during the year as cost-conscious consumers stay away from luxury casinos. (His fortune has dropped even further over the past two months.)
Adelson is a colorful character, who was a consulting client of mine in the 1980s. A brash guy from the streets of Dorchester -- a tough section of Boston -- Adelson first hit it big by creating Las Vegas-based COMDEX -- what was the biggest high-tech trade show around through much of the 1980s and 1990s.
Even though COMDEX faded from prominence since then, Adelson fell in love with Las Vegas and borrowed heavily to get into the casino business. Now his company holds $10.2 billion of debt on a $2.2 billion sliver of equity, and it lost $52 million over the first nine months of the year.
With the economy tanking and credit markets skittish, it could be hard for Adelson to recover. But he's been in tougher scrapes before.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. Portfolio will publish his book about Boeing, You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, on December 26, 2008. He has no financial interest in Las Vegas Sands securities.
Be sure to check out more Money Losers of 2008.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-24-2008 @ 1:34PM
Perry said...
Mr Adelson outside of Jack Binion is one of the finer men of Las Vegas. My best wishes to both of them and if anyone knows gaming........Jack Binion #1 and Mr Adelson #2.
Good luck and oh for the good Old days of Vegas where the management and employees were genuine and knew gaming and gamblers.
12-27-2008 @ 6:07PM
bing said...
las vegas was built on cheap vacations, something sheldon and steve wynn strayed away from with thier $300+ a night hotels. i hope they lose every penny they have because they ruined las vegas.
I won't spend a dime in these places and i go to vegas 3 times a year.
where are your rich customers now sheldon and wynn? oh yea, they're not spending either. see ya both in foreclosure.
12-29-2008 @ 9:45PM
user said...
Oh what sorrow I feel, when I got time I feel for him. I hate gambling and feel that it is for the stupid and dumb. He is not.... but the people who give him there money... are.
1-01-2009 @ 10:34PM
mike said...
Vegas killed the golden goose. Much like the home builders, they found it more fun to build at the top end and add all the frills. The problem is they all cost money. Vegas use to be a place where you went to have fun, stay in reasonable rooms, and food and drink were reasonable. But two problems happened, that approach brought in all the low lifes from LA, but they went to far with the up scale building and now time will tell. But you check into your $200 per night room, eat your $200 dinner, and go the the $250 show and you have spent $650 before you ever hit the casino, where they have tightened it up to where winning is out of the question.