By Kate O’Keeffe
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–Former Sands China Ltd. (SCHYY, 1928.HK) chief executive Steve Jacobs has filed a suit alleging breach of employment contract against Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS).
The suit was filed Wednesday according to a document posted Thursday on Nevada’s Clark County district court website. The details of the complaint weren’t yet available and Jacobs declined to comment on the suit.
Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese said “the company does not comment on legal matters.”
Las Vegas Sands’s Macau unit in July removed Jacobs as chief executive in an unusually blunt statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange without giving a reason for his departure.
The dismissal, which occurred only a year after Jacobs took the top spot of a unit that is considered a key growth engine for the parent company, came amid signs of tension between Jacobs and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson.
Jacobs presided over Sands China’s US$2.5 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong in November and oversaw record earnings at Sands’ Macau casinos. However, the relationship between Messrs. Adelson and Jacobs grew strained as the latter wanted to retain the autonomy of Sands China and was unwilling to involve Las Vegas in the day-to-day operations of the Macau casinos, said people familiar with the matter.
Since Jacobs’s departure, Las Vegas Sands Chief Operating Officer Mike Leven has served as the Hong Kong-listed unit’s acting chief executive.
Las Vegas Sands shares closed 1.6% lower Thursday, falling to US$37.98 versus the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 0.4% rise to 11146.57, its highest close since May 3.
