MGM Resorts is putting the Mirage resort and Casino in Sin City up for sale. This ends the 21-year ownership of one of the strip’s most illustrious properties.
MGM: The Company Cuts its Losses
On late Wednesday, the company made the announcement in its earnings call when it explains to analysts that it doesn’t want to invest more money into the 32-year-old property. The Mirage is famously known for its exploding volcano. End of an era, indeed. There are no buyers or prices for the Mirage that were revealed.
Sell the Operations
They are in the “early stages of a process to sell the operations,” MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle said. This is regarding the Mirage. “In fact, doing so will allow us to maintain our existing Las Vegas exposure. Thus while focusing on the complementary and multi-faceted nature of our offerings in our hometown,” he said.
“Much of the 77 acres are really undeveloped in the context of what could be there,” Hornbuckle said of the Mirage’s potential growth which would be under a new owner. “Therefore, as we look at capital allocation, and then we look at the thought of diversification, we really have had enough of Las Vegas.”
There are about a dozen properties in Las Vegas which the MGM owns. They include the Bellagio, MGM Grand, and also Mandalay Bay. In 1989, the Mirage opening under the owner Steve Wynn. In 2000, it was purchasing by MGM.
The Mirage is just one of the number of sales that have happening in Las Vegas.
Mirage is just one of the number of sales that have happened in Las Vegas in recent years. In 2019, MGM sold Circus Circus for $825 million. It formed a joint venture with private equity firm Blackstone (BGB) to acquire Bellagio’s real estate and then lease it back to MGM Resorts in a $4.25 billion agreement.
MGM is, in fact, using the money to invest billions of dollars in a new casino in Osaka, Japan. Moreover, it has also expanded sports betting in the United States. Though it is not completely abandoning the Las Vegas Strip. However, it did announce in September. Therefore, it was buying Cosmopolitan for $1.6 billion. Next year, that transaction is expected to close.