Having enjoyed yet another record quarter in 4Q25, MGM China said in its quarterly earnings call Friday that it is encouraged by early booking trends ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday period and again expects to punch above its weight.
Kenneth Feng, MGM China’s CEO, said he expects the investment the company has injected into its Macau hotel room inventory – specifically towards the premium mass segment – to continue paying dividends given the company’s impressive 16.5% market share during the December quarter.
“For Chinese New Year, we are very optimistic – we see very, very encouraging booking trends for Chinese New Year,” Feng explained during parent company MGM Resorts’ earnings call.
“We even have a long waiting list for our top tier hotel products. The premium quality is very high. MGM China, we do have limited room inventory, but we are [strong] in premium mass. We are very focused on quality over quantity and yield management is always our strength. We are confident about the demand.
“We make sure that we yield our products wisely and we make sure what we are doing to serve our customers is what they want.
“So, these days, even ahead of holiday, there’s no slow period. We feel good about it in general.”
MGM Resorts management was also glowing in its praise of the company’s Macau performance, noting that the subsidiary had maintained margins in the mid-to-high 20% range despite a “relentless competitive environment [that] is the norm there”.
MGM Resorts CFO Jonathan Halkyard pointed to the recently amended branding fee between the parent and MGM China as being particularly valuable. Under a revised agreement, MGM China now pays MGM Resorts 3.5% of its adjusted consolidated net monthly revenues, up from 1.75% previously. The agreement runs through until the end of MGM China’s current 10-year concession, eliminating a prior stipulation that a new agreement be reached every three years, and auto renews for up to 20 years upon concession renewal.
“The [MGM] brand has proven its value over time, helping drive MGM China’s market share and EBITDA, both of which have almost doubled since 2019,” Halkyard said during this morning’s call. “The renewal terms also result in greater cash flow generated for MGM Resorts, which if we use 2025 results, would represent over US$50 million in incremental cash flow to our company.”
MGM Resorts, Halkyard added, remains “highly confident in the long-term growth prospects in Macau and remains aligned with the MGM China shareholders in our desire to increase profitability and ultimately the enterprise value of MGM China.”
Japan funding
Halkyard also touched briefly on MGM’s US$10 billion integrated resort development in Osaka, Japan, which broke ground last year ahead of a planned 2030 opening.
The company said it expects to contribute between US$350 million and US$400 million into MGM Osaka in 2026, although the vast majority of this will be covered by proceeds from the yen-denominated credit facility it closed last October.
The facility, initially priced at US$300 million, was later increased to US$350 million, Halkyard noted.
