GGRAsia – LVS boss Adelson takes medical leave due to cancer

LVS boss Adelson takes medical leave due to cancer

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

Sheldon Adelson (pictured in a file photo), chairman and chief executive of United States-based casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), is taking leave of medical absence “effective immediately” in order to receive treatment for lymphoma, a form of cancer, said a Thursday statement from the group.

Las Vegas Sands is the parent of Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd. Mr Adelson is also chairman and CEO of the Macau unit.

It is the second time recently that Mr Adelson has spent time away from his duties due to lymphoma.

It emerged during a court case in March 2019 that he had been absent from his office from December 2018. In March 2019, it was disclosed he was being treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but at the time the company said Mr Adelson had still been “fulfilling his duties” as chairman and CEO. He returned to his “regular [working] schedule” part way through 2019.

Thursday’s filing said Robert Goldstein, the group’s president and chief operating officer, would continue in those roles, while also becoming acting CEO and acting chairman of both Las Vegas Sands and Sands China, “effective immediately”.

Mr Goldstein has been president and COO – and a member of the Las Vegas Sands’ board – since 2015 and had “held a variety of senior leadership positions since joining the company in 1995,” noted the U.S. filing.

In a separate filing on Thursday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Sands China said it had named Grant Chum Kwan Lock to the firm’s board. Mr Chum was appointed as Sands China’s chief operating officer in February last year. He also serves as the company’s executive vice president.

At the time of the group’s 2020 proxy statement to investors, issued in April, Mr Adelson, currently aged 87, his wife and family trusts, held 56.6 percent of the group’s outstanding common stock.

The firm’s 2019 annual report, issued in February last year, noted: “Our ability to maintain our competitive position is dependent to a large degree on the services of our senior management team, including Sheldon G. Adelson, Robert G. Goldstein and Patrick Dumont.”

It added: “The loss of their services or the services of other senior managers, or the inability to attract and retain additional senior management personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.”