Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. will cut 216 full-time employees from its Las Vegas properties as part of an overall effort to reduce costs at the struggling company.
The company confirmed it would notify employees starting Friday. Sands is also eliminating $6.5 million in management bonuses for 2008.
The cuts come as all of Las Vegas endures a sharp consumer downturn that has seen revenues plummet every month since late last year. This week, Nevada gambling regulators said gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip fell 26% to $475 million in October, compared with the same month last year.
A Las Vegas Sands official said the latest staff cuts were being made across all departments at the properties. The cuts are largely positions that don't interact with hotel or casino guests, a company spokesman said. "It won't impact the customer experience at our properties," said the spokesman, Ron Reese.
Sands employs 10,000 workers at two properties in Las Vegas, the Venetian and the Palazzo. The cuts follow an earlier staff reduction of 50 employees last month.
Like other major casino companies, Sands is grappling with billions in debt that it took on to fund expansion plans. But its stock has taken a dive and its controlling shareholder and chief executive, Sheldon Adelson, has had to contribute nearly $1 billion of his family's cash to keep the company from breaking debt covenants.
Source : WSJ
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]
