Update: Wynn Macau Director Craps Out
Kyle is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
Progress Report: Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN), mentioned 1/20/12 trading around $115-$116 per share, currently trading around $116 (intraday, 2/23/12).
As a semi-functional adult, as well as a home trader, I happen to make a mistake every so often. I know there is a small but mighty uprising, curious as to how I can still be alive, but I get to continue breathing, avoiding the impending zombie apocalypse and enjoying fleeting moments of brilliance.
Unlike some adults, I actually admit and take complete ownership of my mistakes. Sometimes I even follow them into a murky abyss of unknown, buying shares all the way down. Personally, I reserve the right to do that. I have a cool miner’s hat with a light and everything. That and it’s my money. You, fair trader, do not get to follow me into that dark chasm of hope, and as such, I have to own another mistake.
I was recently privy to a bit of information that I need to pass along just in case any of the eleven of you that still reads me has any sort of interest in Wynn Resorts. Kazuo Okada, who sits in the big chair at the company’s board of directors’ meetings in Macau, is in a bit of a sticky mess with Wynn Macau and now our good friends at the Securities and Exchange Commission are involved. Apparently, Mr. Okada took umbrage with the fact that Wynn made a rather sizeable donation to the University of Macau. I think the bag the donation wore was XXL (in school colors, of course), since it was over $100 million. So with his distaste of the charitable gift, Mr. Okada has requested access to the company’s books. Wynn’s management said (respectfully, I’m sure), “No”. So now Mr. Okada is suing Wynn. Great, now there are lawyers involved and before the fracas is all said and done, there’s going to be fur flying in a whirlwind of accusations and hurt feelings.
I’m not even to the best part of this delicious melee. Wynn has not only called an emergency board meeting, they are accusing Mr. Okada of making improper payments to gambling regulators and forcing the buyback of his 20% stake in the company. Get this, at a 30% discount of market price. Of course, Mr. Okada has every intention of fighting this, as well as the request that he resign his seat at the high stakes table.
Now like most people, I enjoy a good fight, but not necessarily if my money is involved, and I would suggest that if you have any sort of stake in Wynn, please proceed with caution, if at all. So as a grown adult I will own my “mistake”, but no shares of Wynn Resorts.
Motley Fool blogger Kyle Metivier owns no shares of Wynn Resorts.
