Wednesday, March 2, 2022 | 2 a.m.
The new operator of the Venetian has created an “equity-like” sharing program that could be worth thousands of dollars for each employee at the Strip resort.
Apollo Global Management Inc., which recently completed a deal to purchase operations of the Venetian from Las Vegas Sands, announced the program Tuesday to the resort’s roughly 7,000 employees.
It will give all employees — regardless of seniority or job title — a share of any “value creation” at the property, company spokeswoman Erin Clark said.
“It’s a broad program,” Clark said. “This is just hypothetical, but say the business is worth $2 billion today, but at exit it was worth $4 billion, employees would get a piece of that $2 billion in value creation.”
When Apollo sells its interest in the Venetian or if it is able to capitalize on the growth of its $2.25 billion investment in the property, employees would be compensated.
Clark said the program would depend entirely on any value monetization, but it could mean as much as $10,000 per employee if the business changes hands. Annual payments could also go out, Clark said.
“If we’re coming in and telling people we’re so excited about this business and that we think there’s tons of room for growth, everyone should be able to think like owners,” Clark said.
Employees “should be able to benefit from what we plan to do together,” she said. “It’s very similar to an employee having equity in a company. It’s equity-like. We think it’s an example of good corporate governance.”
Clark said this is the first time Apollo has rolled out this type of program. “We think this could be a helpful retention or recruitment tool, but that wasn’t the core purpose,” she said.
David Schwartz, a UNLV professor and Nevada gaming industry historian, said he doesn’t recall any similar programs for casino employees.
“Nothing exactly like this comes to mind,” Schwartz said. “It’s possible that stock options or bonuses have been paid to some employees, but I’m not aware of anything like this.”
In a statement earlier this year, David Sambur, a partner at Apollo, said the future of the Venetian is bright.
“With (pandemic) restrictions lifting and travel indicators all trending higher, we believe the future for this property and the entire Las Vegas consumer and business tourism market is brighter than ever,” Sambur said.
Apollo, a New York firm, acquired the operations of the Venetian complex — which includes the Palazzo and an adjoining 2.25 million-square-foot convention center — as part of a deal worth more than $6 billion that closed last month.
The real estate assets and the land under the Venetian complex are owned by VICI Properties, a real estate investment trust that also owns the real estate assets of Caesars Palace. Apollo has an agreement with VICI to lease the Venetian’s operations.
In recent weeks, multiple Las Vegas resort companies have announced or held job fairs, including Caesars Entertainment, Treasure Island, Circa Las Vegas, Station Casinos and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which owns the Palms.
San Manuel, which plans to reopen the shuttered Palms later this year, has said it hopes to hire close to 1,000 employees.
During a job fair Thursday, Caesars had a goal of hiring 500 new employees in Las Vegas.
In an email, a Caesars spokeswoman declined to say how many people were hired that day, but the company made hundreds of offers.
Last week, Shani Coleman, director of community and economic development for Clark County, said up to 45,000 Strip resort workers still have not returned to work since the state-mandated shutdown of casinos in March 2020.
