MGM Mirage: Degenerate Gambler

The Silence of the Cranes

From Bloomberg:
MGM Mirage and Dubai World failed to reach agreement with Deutsche Bank AG and talks on a $1.2 billion loan to complete the Las Vegas CityCenter project collapsed, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.

Come right in, MGM, take a seat…can I get you a cup of coffee?  Sorry, yes, this is an intervention.

You have a gambling problem.

You really rolled the dice on this Las Vegas CityCenter thing, MGM…$11.2 billion for something no one on earth would’ve told you we needed.

You need to get some help, MGM Mirage.  You’re not thinking clearly and its time to admit you have a gambling problem.  Was it really worth taking the risk that Vegas needed another 300,000 hotel rooms or another mega-casino?

“We are having ongoing talks with our financial partners about our several options,” said MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment.

Translation:  Pretty Pretty Please Give us More Money!!!

And why is 91 year old Kirk Kerkorian still calling the shots…a man who’s just blown up his own fortune gambling on U.S. automakers?

What’s that you say?  Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands?  He may have a gambling problem too, but just because he takes on $10.3 billion in high interest debt, doesn’t mean you should follow him.  He’s got his hands full in Macau, anyway, you’re overbuilding in Nevada, two different stories.

I mean, c’mon MGM, you wanna end up like Trump?  Because that’s the road you’re headed down.  We’re all your friends here.  This is a safe place.

The first step toward recovery is to admit you have a problem, MGM…CityCenter is the most arrogant, ill-timed, unthoughtful and underfunded US construction project since Boston’s Big Dig.  I know, I know, it sounded sexy back in 2005-2006, but that was then and this is now.

MGM Mirage has slumped 84 percent this year and closed yesterday at $2.21 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the lowest since at least December 1989.

Guy, you’ve truly hit rock bottom, here.  Instead of seeking a loan from Deutsche Bank to complete this monstrosity, why not seek treatment?

MGM CityCenter Deal Collapses (Bloomberg)

Full Disclosure:  I am not long or short MGM or LVS.