Adelson and Ho dine together in Macau
This is a akin to Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson sitting down to discuss the teachings of the Dali Lama.
Or, based on today’s news, billionaires Kirk Kerkorian and Carl Icahn splitting a sandwich at Nate ‘n Al’s.
A recent lunch in Macau between Adelson and Hong Kong gaming tycoon Stanley Ho could be likened to a thawing of the Cold War.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese described the two-hour lunch at the Venetian Macau as “warm and friendly.”
Adelson, 75, and Ho, 87, decided to put aside their long-standing differences to try and come up with ways to boost Macau’s sagging gaming revenues.
Las Vegas Sands ended Ho’s monopoly on the Macau casino market in 2004 with the opening of the Sands Macau. The August 2007 opening of the Venetian Macau helped change the market and Las Vegas Sands was in the midst of a $12 billion building spree on Macau’s Cotai Strip when the bottom fell out of the company last year.
Adelson and Ho have criticized each other publicly in the past, but Ho only had compliments after the meeting.
“Everyone agreed not to compete, to have enough rice to eat and to get more taxes for the government,” Ho reportedly said after the lunch, adding the two will meet again in May.
