Las Vegas Sands Corp hinted on Wednesday that Stephen Weaver’s return to Sands China’s management team in Macau could be extended beyond the consultancy role announced last week following the departure of Steve Jacobs as CEO.
The company also indicated that whoever gets the job on a full time basis will need to have strong diplomacy skills to ensure good relations with the Macau authorities. But the company also said the new boss’s job would be made easier if it was being clearly demonstrated that Sands China continues month by month to add value to Macau’s economy.
“I think the combination of having a strong current operating situation, along with the gaming, will give the next CEO the ability to deal in the financial, legal, government affairs area. So that’s how we are structuring the business,” said Michael Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of LVS during the company’s second quarter earnings call.
Mr Weaver would be a strong candidate on the hearts and minds front. He was widely praised for his project management on The Venetian Macao’s construction, and he was generally seen as a less abrasive figure than Mr Jacobs within the Macau industry and in government circles.
Mr Jacobs was brought in during May 2009 to cut costs and turn round the operational side of the business following the global credit crisis in the autumn of 2008. Not long after, Mr Weaver’s public profile began to diminish. One of his last set piece performances as ostensible head of the business in Macau was the signing in late July last year of the deal to set up an association for the Macau concessionaires. Eventually, his role as President of Asian Development was eclipsed by Mr Jacobs’ CEO role.
“Stephen Weaver has come back as a consultant to help us through the transition period and maybe even longer depending upon his personal situation,” added Mr Leven during Wednesday’s conference call. Mr Leven is acting CEO for Sands China until a permanent replacement for Mr Jacobs is found.
During the conference call, the company also continued its tradition of not entirely singing the praises of its ousted executives. It said Mr Jacobs is free to offer his services to rival operators—with its blessing.
“Well, I would opt to have him go to work for a direct competitor,” said Sheldon Adelson, the LVS Chairman and Chief Executive.
“He had a signed term sheet. We never got to contract with it, and I don’t believe he has a non-compete in that term sheet,” added Mr Leven.
Asked by analyst Joe Greff from J.P. Morgan whether anyone else would be following Mr Jacobs out of the door, Mr Adelson had another acid comment.
“To the contrary, we have several people wanting to come back.”
Mr Leven also gave more details on David Sisk and Ed Tracy, two executives LVS announced this week would be joining the Sands China management team.
“In the case of David Sisk, the casino individual, we have been looking for some months for someone to run or supervise the five casinos that we have that includes [Cotai] 5 & 6 as well. He has many years of very strong casino experience combined with some significant Macau experience in other marketplace.
“So, I think he brings a very senior management approach to the casino business. This is a very complex business, multi-marketed, even though it’s a significant amount of junket business, and we think that David Sisk’s personality and skill set bring into the table will provide some management daily attention to the full casino business,” explained Mr Leven.
“It is not possible to run all of the casino business here from the very top of the organization. There is just too much going on, on a daily basis. So that’s why we were looking for the individual. And I think David brings an unusual combination of understanding the VIP business, as well as having a real good organisational mind and experience for the rest of the casino businesses that we have.”
The other executive, Ed Tracy, will deal with operations—focusing especially on service standards and marketing, said Mr Leven.
“Ed Tracy has some casino experience, but we have bifurcated the building into two pieces, the casino side and the operating side. Ed actually began by washing dishes in a hotel, worked his way up through a series of properties all through his career, much of which people on this call probably wouldn’t have seen at low levels in the hotel business, built his way up through that business through some senior positions, and I think he can take the operation of these properties to the next level.
“The operations of the properties are doing well from a quality basis. It needs a little bit of work on the service side. And also, some substantial improvements can be made on the marketing and sales side, and I believe we will be able to accomplish that with Ed,” stated Mr Leven.
