New York billionaire investor Carl Icahn keeps growing his stake in Las Vegas hotel and casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp., as he is pressing the company to merge with a rival operator or sell itself
GuruFocus reported earlier this week that the activist investor has purchased 20,724,421 shares of one of the world’s largest casino and hospitality operators, upping his holding to 20.88%. News about Mr. Icahn’s interest in Caesars first emerged in January. Back then, it was still unknown how much of Caesars stock the businessman had amassed.
He confirmed that he had begun building a stake in the company last month. Mr. Icahn’s interest in Caesars represented nearly 10% in company stock at the time. The businessman has added more than 10% of Caesars shares in the following weeks.
It became known earlier this month that the New York investor has become the company’s largest shareholder. His holding in Caesars stood at 15.53% upon that announcement. Casino News Daily reported earlier this week that the billionaire businessman has increased his stake to 17.75%, adding 15 million shares.
According to GuruFocus, the latest transaction occurred on Monday and involved Mr. Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises purchasing 20.7 million shares of the casino powerhouse to increase his holding to 20.88%.
What’s Next for Caesars?
Aside from building a stake in the gaming and hospitality company, Mr. Icahn has also secured a board representation. Earlier this month, Caesars has agreed to appoint three new members of its Board of Directors who were named by its new largest stakeholder.
Under a recently penned agreement between Mr. Icahn and the Las Vegas-headquartered company, the businessman will be able to name a fourth director if Caesars fails to find a replacement of its departing CEO Mark Frissora within 45 days.
Mr. Frissora was originally expected to step down in February, but it was announced that he would stay with the company until April. Sources familiar with the matter have said that Mr. Icahn wants a person with considerable experience in the gambling industry to replace Caesars’ outgoing Chief. The company has reportedly told the businessman that it would consider his proposal to appoint Affinity Gaming CEO Anthony Rodio as its top executive.
As mentioned earlier, Mr. Icahn has been pushing Caesars to merge or sell itself as he believes this is “the best path forward for the company.”
The gaming and hospitality operator announced earlier this week plans to trim its corporate workforce to reduce annual costs by $40 million. Caesars further clarified that many of the jobs cut would be positions that are currently vacant. All affected employees would be offered severance packages, the company also said.
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