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Sheldon G. Adelson
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Mr. Adelson is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS). The company owns The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada and the Sands Macao in The People’s Republic of China’s Special Administrative Region of Macao as well as Venetian Macao Limited a developer of additional multiple casino hotel resort properties in Macao. A dynamic entrepreneur business visionary and venture capitalist Mr. Adelson's business career spans five decades.
Growing up in a poor immigrant family in Boston he went to work at a young age hawking newspapers on local street corners and owned his first business by the time he was twelve. In the years that followed he worked as a mortgage broker investment adviser and financial consultant. To this point in his career Mr. Adelson has created and developed to maturity more than 50 different companies including COMDEX a tradeshow he developed for the computer industry. At his direction COMDEX became the world’s largest trade show with a presence in more than 20 countries.
In 1989 Mr. Adelson purchased the Sands Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas the former hangout of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack - in order to bring Las Vegas to a new phase of business centricity through the exhibition industry. The following year Mr. Adelson constructed the Sands Expo and Convention Center the only privately-owned and operated convention center in the United States.
In 1995 Mr. Adelson sold the Interface Group Show Division including the COMDEX shows to Softbank Corporation of Japan for a cash price in excess of $860 million
In 1991 while honeymooning in Venice with his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson Mr. Adelson gained the inspiration and theme for a mega-resort hotel and he proceeded with the implosion of the venerable Sands and the construction of the $1.5 billion Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino that became the ultimate resort destination by bringing the famous city of water to the desert of Nevada.
The luxurious all-suite Venetian clearly challenged the status quo in Las Vegas a resort destination that caters to a blend of tourist gaming and business travelers. Since it’s opening the property has received recognition as revolutionizing the Las Vegas hotel industry and has been honored with architectural and other awards naming it as one the finest hotels in the world. In 2003 The Venetian added the 1 013-suite Venezia tower giving The Venetian 4 027 suites 18 world-class restaurants and a retail mall with canals gondolas and singing gondoliers.
In May 2004 Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macao located on China’s southeastern coast. The Sands Macao includes approximately 163 000 square feet of gaming facilities luxury suites specialty restaurants and an International VIP club.
The Sands Macao sets the stage for the next phase of development in Macao a development which will include The Venetian Macao. The Venetian Macao a luxury resort hotel casino similar to The Venetian in Las Vegas will be the anchor of the much larger Cotai Strip mega-tourism development an unparalleled master plan that will become the Las Vegas strip of Asia. With up to 25 hotel developments and over 60 000 rooms managed by the most famous hospitality operators from around the world the Cotai Strip will bring forward the critical mass of hospitality experiences necessary to brand Macao as the entertainment and gaming capital of Asia.
In December 2004 in one of the year’s most anticipated initial public offerings Dr. and Mr. Adelson rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and with it shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. began trading. The price of the Sands stock rose 61 percent on its opening day becoming the largest opening day of any American-based initial public offering in the last two years. Mr. Adelson still maintains control of 88 percent of the company leading analysts to speculate his net worth at more than $15 billion - making him one of the ten richest people in America.
Mr. Adelson has been granted honorary degrees and other awards and has been a guest speaker at various colleges and universities including the University of New Haven Harvard Business School Columbia Business School Tel Aviv University and Babson College.
Dr. and Mr. Adelson live in Las Vegas. | 