It will be some time before we know what drugs were in Whitney Houston‘s system when she perished last weekend. More to our S&G purpose is the question of what pharmacological experiments Caesars Entertainment executives were conducting when they entered top-hush negotiations with the troubled singer in 2009. According to designer Andy Walmsley (who ought to know), a residency show was being talked up for Paris-Las Vegas. Think about it: Whitney Houston. 2009. Anybody see a problem here? This Nov. 24, 2009 performance gives an idea of what we could have expected … although, in truth, Strip audiences have sat contentedly through worse, much worse.
Seriously, you’ve got to be kidding when you propose a headliner act anchored — if that is the operative verb — by a former superstar, adrift and whose reliability would have been suspect to say the least. Also, is it a wise idea to bring a self-described “addictive personality” to Vegas? Think, Gary, think!
MGM Resorts International announced that it would be paying down $300 million of senior debt on CityCenter … largely by issuing $240 million in new debt (although it also may have as much as $172 million in cash on hand to throw in the kitty). There were not too many CityCenter metrics available in today’s analyst reports, but the six pack netted $269 million last quarter, including $10 million in condo sales, with an operating loss of $45 million. Cash flow was $54 million which, if annualized, implies a 2.5%-3% ROI on the project. The best I can say is that figure used to be a lot skimpier, so there’s definitely an improving financial performance at that oddball complex.
