Asian Gaming Intelligence understands the Sands China CEO has left the company with effect from today, with LVS President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Leven taking over in the short term.
It seems there may have been more to Mr Jacobs cashing in some of his LVS shares recently than the market assumed at the time.
The news comes hot on the heels of LVS announcing it had drawn down the first US$750 million tranche of its latest US$1.75 billion syndicated loan for Cotai.
Some thought there were already signs Mr Jacobs was becoming ‘semi-detached,’ to borrow an infamous phrase once used by Sir Bernard Ingham, the press secretary of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to describe a dissenting member of her cabinet.
It followed a public put down recently from LVS Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson after Mr Jacobs commented on the issue of casinos possibly being legalised in Japan—a well-known LVS target.
“I’ve said I’d like to bring our subsidiary [Sands China] in as a partner if we do go in Japan, but I didn’t ask Steve to make prognostications about when Japan is going to be open,” Adelson told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
“He’s probably just shooting from the hip—I’m in charge of development,” added Mr Adelson.
It’s not long since another former LVS highflier, Stephen Weaver, left Sands China. Mr Weaver was largely credited with effective project management during the building phase of The Venetian Macao. Mr Jacobs was brought in to turn around the up and running operation by reorganising and cutting costs following the global credit crisis of 2008 that impacted so heavily on LVS’s finances.
In that context, Mr Jacobs’ move might be the right one at the right time for all concerned. His background is as a consultant turning around failing companies in the travel, transportation and hospitality sectors. Those are valuable skills, but not necessarily the same skills needed to manage Sands China’s massive Cotai 5 and 6 building project.
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