  Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 68 Registered: 02-2009 |
For sale: Downtown casino is need of new owner. Current owner wealth has dropped from 15 billion to 500 million. Seeks to sell prized casinos to reduce debt. Downtown location is profitable therefore on the market. Place your bets. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20090316/B IZ/903160364 | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 949 Registered: 11-2007 |
I'm surprised there hasn't been more comment on this. It's another example of corporate, in this case, Kerkorian, greed. Continuous financing of expansions and new projects such as City Center and figuring there was no limit to the growth of Casinos, Hotels and Condos in Vegas. I bet Ilitch would love to flip his ownership of Motor City with MGM and have his casino next to the new arena and Foxtown but I guess that would be a very complex move in this financial climate as Motor City seems to be stagnant while Greektown is starting to improve their share of the market with the new hotel and management team. I just hope whoever takes over MGM is just as classy. It would be nice if an investor would continue to have MGM manage the property but that would probably require MGM keeping a large share of the ownership. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6226 Registered: 08-2004 |
I was expecting this to be a thread about Greektown Casino... had the thread title mentioned this, I bet more would have posted on this by now. One thing the article mentions is that MGM/Mirage is selling some of their more profitable properties, which should make us feel better about this sale. The good news about this is that it's NOT a Detroit caused issue... it's the financial overreach that MGM/Mirage has undertaken. 401don... I too bet that the Ilitch's would love to flip properties... but as you stated... that would be a costly move in this environment... although if they had a potential buyer for MotorCity, it wouldn't be that far fetched of a move to switch properties. I don't think Don Barden has that much money, so I wonder if Donald Trump is interested... | ||
Raptor56 Member Username: Raptor56 Post Number: 816 Registered: 05-2007 |
Does it hurt Detroit if all three of its casinos are "local" companies and not part of national casino chains? I imagine part of the draw people have to MGM Detroit is the MGM name, and the ability to earn MGM reward points, which can be used in Vegas, Atlantic City, etc. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 70 Registered: 02-2009 |
I don't think it would hurt Detroit if MGM was sold. The main reason why MGM gets foot traffic besides reward points is that it was the first to open. I would imagine that MGM would continue to honor the points for a period of time if they did sell the hotel/casino. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 71 Registered: 02-2009 |
Kerkorian like many of these greedy capitalists believed they had more money than GOD. They over-stretched their resources and now their status on the Forbes 500 have dropped. Kerkorian was worth 15 billion dollars and thought he could build and buy till the end of time. Someone should have told him that nothing last forever. (Message edited by BRG on March 16, 2009) | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 604 Registered: 07-2006 |
Also, let's keep in mind that the MGM is very new and quite nice inside. For that reason, the hotel has probably been quite profitable, and finding a buyer should be reasonably easy to find. | ||
Sstashmoo Member Username: Sstashmoo Post Number: 3474 Registered: 02-2007 |
Is this unprecedented? Has any other mainstream casinos went belly up before? Anywhere? | ||
Xstigmatax Member Username: Xstigmatax Post Number: 12 Registered: 10-2008 |
LOL if you thing MGM is going belly up you should take a look at what they are building right now in Vegas. I think they are going to be OK. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 9634 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Yeah, that's WHY they are reviewing their finances. In case you haven't heard, Las Vegas development is kinda fucked right now. | ||
3rdworldcity Member Username: 3rdworldcity Post Number: 1359 Registered: 01-2005 |
Sstashmoo: How about Trump Casino's now in their second or third bankruptcies. Ilitch would be nuts to trade MC for MGM. MC is almost as profitable as MGM (and in some months is more profitable), and Illitch's investment in MC is less than half MGM's investment in its Detroit casino. I'd rather make, for example, $500,000 on a $3 million investment than twice as much, $1 million, on a $10 million investment. I have a friend who walked away from closing on 2 units in City Center. Walked on $150 grand in deposits rather than close and take an immediate hit to his balance sheet. It's not as much fun out there in the cold cruel world as it used to be. | ||
Brg Member Username: Brg Post Number: 73 Registered: 02-2009 |
The casino market isn't what it used to be. There are too many regional casinos (i.e. MGM Grand Detroit) that takes one more person away from Vegas. Why fly all the way to Vegas to lose your money when you can do that here in Detroit. The worst thing to happen to people like Trump and Kirk K. was that casinos were showing up in places like Gary, Indiana, Biloxi, MS, Detroit, MI and so on. If I am Kerkorian, I'm like fuck, we didn't need to build CityCenter. If I'm Trump, I really need to stay off television. That TV show is so rigged it is not entertaining. (Message edited by BRG on March 16, 2009) |
