{"id":99692,"date":"2019-03-03T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=99692"},"modified":"2019-03-03T07:47:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T15:47:35","slug":"carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Billionaire Urges Company Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the board of Caesars Entertainment after the billionaire corporate raider acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the financially distressed casino operator.<\/p>\n

\"Carl
Carl Icahn remains active at the age of 83 in trying to grow his nearly $19 billion fortune. (Image: Andrew Harrer\/Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caesars confirmed the appointments in a press release naming Icahn Enterprises CEO Keith Cozza, Icahn Capital Portfolio Manager Courtney Mather, and Icahn Enterprises board member James Nelson.<\/p>\n

\n

The news comes after the billionaire requested representation on the governing committee following his 9.78 percent acquisition of the casino organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cozza, Mather, and Nelson will replace three Caesars board members who weren’t immediately identified.<\/p>\n

“Our new colleagues bring diverse and relevant experience, and we look forward to them joining our board in our ongoing efforts to further enhance value for all shareholders,” Caesars Board Chair James Hunt stated. “Since the completion of Caesars’ restructuring, we have been undergoing a strategic process to create value, and we will continue that process working with our new directors.”<\/p>\n

Investors reacted positively to the appointments. Shares were up four percent on Friday to a close of $8.97. They were still down for the week, as trading fell from $9.13, a loss of 9.2 percent.<\/p>\n

Pushes Sale<\/b><\/h2>\n

Icahn believes Caesars should more seriously consider being acquired, most likely through a reverse takeover where a smaller company assumes its assets.<\/p>\n

\n

“I believe the best path forward for Caesars requires a thorough strategic process to sell or merge the company to further develop its already strong regional presence,” Icahn declared.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The billionaire says doing so would allow the company to more efficiently use its vast Caesars Rewards loyalty network of customers, and grow its operations in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

“I expect this to make Caesars the most powerful competitor in Vegas, the gaming capital of the world. Caesars would be a great opportunity for certain investors who have already expressed interest, and I’m glad the Board will explore these opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Icahn additionally states that the company should be focused on finding CEO Mark Frissora’s successor<\/a> \u2013 which is well underway \u2013 and strategies to improve operating performance and optimize real estate assets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The former Tropicana Entertainment owner has nominated Affinity Gaming CEO Anthony Rodio, who oversaw Tropicana during Icahn’s tenure controlling the casino company.<\/p>\n

Anyone Hail Caesars?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Icahn wants Caesars Entertainment sold, but the number of potential suitors might be small.<\/p>\n

\n

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta has suggested his Golden Nugget casinos acquire Caesars through a reverse takeover. The Caesars board rejected the offer, saying it undervalued the firm and wasn’t “consistent with the company’s plans to create and enhance shareholder value over the long term<\/a>.” Fertitta has since made a substantial investment in Caesars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Eldorado Resorts and MGM Resorts are thought to be two other companies looking at Caesars, but the latter’s interest would likely prompt a monopoly review from federal regulators should it make an offer.<\/p>\n

Gaming analyst Barry Jonas told the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/i> that an outright sale is unlikely due to the size of Caesars’ debt. A reverse takeover by a regional operator is likelier in his opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the board of Caesars Entertainment after the billionaire corporate raider acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the financially distressed casino operator. Caesars confirmed the appointments in a press release naming Icahn Enterprises CEO Keith Cozza, Icahn Capital Portfolio Manager Courtney Mather, and Icahn Enterprises board member […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":99696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCarl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-03T15:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-03T15:47:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"933\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/\",\"name\":\"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-03T15:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-03T15:47:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":933,\"caption\":\"Activist investor Carl Icahn. He said he took a new stake in Caesars Entertainment. (Image: Andrew Harrer\/Getty)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Billionaire Urges Company Sale\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale","description":"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale","og_description":"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-03-03T15:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-03T15:47:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":933,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/","name":"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Urges Sale","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-03T15:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-03T15:47:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"Carl Icahn has been given three seats on the Caesars Entertainment board after the billionaire acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/download.jpg","width":1200,"height":933,"caption":"Activist investor Carl Icahn. He said he took a new stake in Caesars Entertainment. (Image: Andrew Harrer\/Getty)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-icahn-afforded-three-caesars-entertainment-board-seats\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Carl Icahn Afforded Three Caesars Entertainment Board Seats, Billionaire Urges Company Sale"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}