GGRAsia – Wynn CEO Maddox among 3 execs in 20pct base pay cut 1Q

Wynn CEO Maddox among 3 execs in 20pct base pay cut 1Q

Jan 07, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck, World

Matt Maddox (pictured in a file photo), chief executive of United States-based casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd, is one of three senior executives subject to a deal to “temporarily reduce” base salary by 20 percent, for the first three months of this year.

The arrangement took effect on January 1, according to a Wednesday filing in the United States.

As a result, his annual base pay goes down to US$1.9 million. The same arrangement sees Craig Billings, president and chief financial officer, have his base salary cut to US$1.14 million.

Ellen Whitmore, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, witnesses her annual base pay being reduced to US$665,000.

“As of April 1, 2021, the annual base salaries will be restored to 100 percent of the annual base salary compensation in the applicable employment agreement,” added the filing.

No reason for the move was given in the statement, although Wynn Resorts has – in common with other land-based casino businesses – seen a dramatic fall in earnings during the past year, due to business and travel disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. Wynn Resorts is the parent of Macau casino operator, Hong Kong-listed Wynn Macau Ltd.

In March it had been announced that the parent’s board of directors and its top executives had variously agreed to forego between 33 percent and 100 percent of their salary for the remainder of 2020 in exchange for restricted shares of the company’s common stock.

In early November, Wynn Macau Ltd – operator of the Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace properties in the Macau market – reported a nearly US$280.7-million net loss in the third quarter of 2020. That compared to a US$103.7-million profit in the equivalent quarter a year earlier.

Nonetheless, the firm achieved break-even in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for October, Mr Maddox had said.

In a December update, Wynn Macau Ltd stated its daily average gross gaming revenue (GGR) for October and November outperformed the overall Macau market average by several percentage points for those months.