Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Looking in on: Business:

Harrah’s execs cashed huge checks

Six among Las Vegas’ best compensated in fiscal ’08

Loveman

Loveman

Fertitta

Fertitta

The closing of the high-profile deal that turned casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment from a publicly traded company into a private business resulted in six of the company’s executives landing in the top 10 of In Business Las Vegas’ list of highest-paid business leaders this year.

Gary Loveman, CEO of Harrah’s, landed the top spot on the list with $92.3 million in total compensation in 2008.

He unseated Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta III, the 2007 leader, who dropped to No. 11 with compensation of $3.4 million.

Loveman and his colleagues received stock options in the $30.7 billion acquisition of Harrah’s by private equity firms Apollo Global Management LP and Texas Pacific Group.

The rest of the Top 10:

2. J. Carlos Tolosa, president of Harrah’s Eastern Division, $15.7 million

3. Charles Atwood, Harrah’s vice chairman and former chief financial officer, $13.1 million

4. Jim Murren, president and CEO of MGM Mirage, $9.9 million

5. Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts, $8.5 million

6. Richard Haddrill, president and CEO of Bally Technologies, $8.3 million

7. Thomas Jenkin, president of Harrah’s Western Division, $7.9 million

8. Jonathan Halkyard, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Harrah’s, $5.5 million

9. Marc Schorr, chief operating officer of Wynn Resorts, $5.3 million

10. John Payne, president of Harrah’s Central Division, $4.3 million.

The list is based on total compensation packages of executives of publicly reporting companies for the 2008 fiscal year in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

•••

Even though sales remain weak, the number of potential buyers checking out new homes rose in April, according to a local research firm.

Home Builders Research reported that all six areas of the Las Vegas Valley reported higher traffic than in March and that sales were up in each of the areas.

The numbers also show that people are shopping for affordable homes. More than 78 percent of the new single-family homes sold in April were priced under $200,000.

North Las Vegas had the highest number of home sales per subdivision at 2.15 in its 47 subdivisions, up from less than one in March, the firm reported. Henderson had the fewest sales per subdivision at 1.54 for its 59 subdivisions.

Eleven percent more people walked through active subdivisions in April, according to Home Builders Research. There were 343 new home sales in April, which makes 1,475 for the year. That’s down 62 percent compared with the first four months of 2008.

The median price for April sales was $215,650, the lowest since February 2005, said Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research.

•••

The number of people renting apartments in Las Vegas fell to a level not seen in more than a decade and, as a consequence, rents are falling to where they were in 2006.

Las Vegas-based consulting firm Applied Analysis reported that rents requested by landlords in the first quarter couldn’t keep pace with 2008 and show no sign of improving.

By the end of the first quarter, the occupancy rate was 91.3 percent, down from 92 percent in the fourth quarter. That’s the lowest reported occupancy rate in more than a decade and well below the 10-year average of 94.3 percent, the firm reported.

Longer versions of these stories appear in this week’s In Business Las Vegas, a sister publication of the Sun.

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