Harrah's Entertainment
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| Harrahs Entertainment, Inc. | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | Reno, Nevada (1937) |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Key people | Gary Loveman, CEO Charles L. Atwood, CFO |
| Industry | Entertainment & Hospitality |
| Products | Casino Games Resorts |
| Revenue | ▲ $7.11 billion USD (2005) |
| Owner | Hamlet Holdings |
| Employees | 85,000 (2005) |
| Website | www.harrahs.com |
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is a private gaming corporation that owns and operates casinos, hotels, and six golf courses under several brands. The company, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues around $7.11 billion. Harrah’s is owned by Hamlet Holdings[1] (Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group).
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[edit] History
[edit] William F. Harrah era (1937-1978)
The company known as Harrah's Entertainment was founded on October 30, 1937 as a small bingo parlor in Reno, Nevada operated by William F. Harrah.[2][3] The company went public in 1971 with 450,000 shares. Following that, it was listed on the American Stock Exchange in 1972 and in 1973 Harrah's becomes the first casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Company founder William F. Harrah died in 1978.
[edit] Post William F. Harrah era
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This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (January 2008). |
- 1980 - In February, Holiday Inns, Inc. acquires Harrah's Las Vegas. Holiday Inn at the time had 1,600 hotels and interests in two casinos, a casino under construction in the marina district in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and a 40 percent ownership interest in River Boat Casino, Inc., a casino adjacent to the Holiday Inn hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.[4][3] In November, Harrah's Marina opens.[3]
- July 1987 - Bill's Casino opens.[3]
- August 1988 - Harrah's Laughlin opens.[3]
- January 1990 - Bass PLC acquires the Holiday Inn hotel business and The Promus Companies is created to retain the remaining assets and brands.[3] Promus being trading a month later (NYSE:PRI).
- 1991 - Company headquarters moved from Reno to Memphis, Tennessee[4]
- April 1992 - Holiday Las Vegas converted to Harrah's.[3]
- 1993 - May: Harrah's Joliet opens;[3]* November: Harrah's Vicksburg and Harrah's Tunica open.[3]
- April 1994 Harrah's Shreveport, opens.[3]
- June 1995 - The company is renamed to Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. following the split off of the Promus hotel brands (Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites).[3]
- 1997 - March Harrah's St. Louis-Riverport opens; May sees the consolidate of two Mississippi properties into the new Tunica Mardi Gras; September: Total Gold is launched; October: Harrah's completes $200 million expansion to Las Vegas; November: Harrah's Cherokee Smoky Mountains opens.[3]
- 1998 - Harrah's Prairie Band opens in January. In June the company acquires Showboat, Inc. acquiring the Showboat Casino, Atlantic City and renaming one property to Harrah's East Chicago. The company later sold the Showboat Hotel & Casino and the Sydney Showboat.[3]
- On January 1, 1999 Harrah's closed the purchase of the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino and Rio Secco Golf course for $888 million.[5] Later that year, the company moves its headquarters from Memphis, Tennessee to Las Vegas.[5]
- June 2003 - Sold Harrah's Vicksburg.
- March 2004 - Harrah's purchased Binion's Horseshoe. On March 11, 2004, Harrah's sold Binion's Horseshoe to MTR Gaming Group retaining the rights to the Horsehoe brand and the World Series of Poker. Later in 2004, Harrah's closed on the purchase of Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation.
- On June 13, 2005 Harrah's completed the takeover of Caesars Entertainment. While the companies were not required to divest any properties, they did sell several properties before the merger was completed. This merger made Harrah's the largest gambling company[citation needed] with over 4 million square feet (370,000 m²) of casinos, almost 100,000 employees and over 40 casinos.[3] Later that month, the company announced that they would consolidate all their brand names under the Harrah's, Rio, Caesars, and Horseshoe brands. Some standalone names, like Paris Las Vegas are likely to be retained. First up will be the rebranding of the two remaining Bally's properties in the company, but specifics or a time line of when this will occur were not provided.[citation needed]
- September 2005 - Harrah's Pride of Lake Charles was severely damaged by Hurricane Rita. One riverboat was pushed completely onshore, and the other is at the Port of Lake Charles awaiting repairs. All of the restaurants and support buildings were destroyed. Harrah's estimates that the rebuilding will take 2 years.
- At the end of 2005, the company moved to sell several properties. On November 29, 2005 Harrah's Entertainment announced plans to sell the Flamingo Laughlin to AREP Boardwalk Properties LLC. The $170 million sale closed on May 19, 2006. As a condition of the sale, the property is to be renamed the Aquarius within 6 months. On December 12, 2005, a sale of the Grand Casino Gulfport, for an undisclosed amount, to Gulfside Casino Partnership was announced. Gulfside is the owner of the Copa Casino which is next to the Grand Casino. The announcement also stated that the Grand Casino Biloxi is to be rebuilt from scratch as a Horseshoe casino.
- On April 23, 2006 a scavenger hunt style promotion called "Treasure Hunt" ended when an accident seriously hurt one employee and tourist, and killed one tourist. The accident happened when a robbery suspect fleeing police hit a mini-van carrying the Harrah's employee and tourists.
- On May 26, 2006, in Las Vegas, NV, Harrah's acquired a 19.6 acre site behind, but not adjacent to the Imperial Palace with frontage on Koval Road. The cost for the land was $164.4 million. The site is currently occupied by the Desert Club Apartments.
- On October 2, 2006, The Wall Street Journal announced that private-equity firms were close to buying Harrah's Entertainment in what would rank as one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. A number of private-equity firms, including Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management, have been involved in the talks. The offer was for $15.05 billion. The company also announced plans to trade 24 acres on the strip for the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino. Following approval from the SEC, State Gaming commissions and by shareholders, the stock (NYSE HET) was delisted on January 28, 2008 and the company was taken private by Hamlet Holdings.[1]
- In December 2006, Harrah's acquired London Clubs International for $568 million.[6]
- On April 9, 2008, Harrah's Entertainment's board of directors approved the plan to change the name of the company to Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The name change was designed to capitalize on the international name recognition enjoyed on the Caesars name brand. The Harrah's brand will continue to be one of the company's three primary casino brands.[7]
[edit] Properties
[edit] See also
- Total Rewards
- World Series of Poker- Buyout through Binion Horeshoe acquisition.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Knightly, Arnold. "MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: Deal closes: Harrah's now private", 2008-01-29. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ About Us. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Company History. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
- ^ a b Harrah's Entertainment. answers.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
- ^ a b Harrahs Entertainment Inc · 8-K · For 4/21/99 · EX-99.1. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
- ^ Form 10K 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ Stutz, Howard. "Harrah's opts to hail name of Caesars", Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2008-04-10.
Shook, Robert L., Jackpot, ISBN 0-471-26323-0
[edit] External links
- Harrah's homepage (used as a source for some information)
- Harrah's Total Rewards Card
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