By Josh Resnek
Steve Wynn has resigned as the head of Wynn Resorts and a new president has been named.
The resignation was expected but still comes as a surprise, especially to Everett officials and residents all concerned about the new casino being built here.
Company officials said after his resignation that everything will continue without interruption and that the hope was business would return to normal now that Wynn is gone.
The future of the Everett project is not in question.
What is in question is exactly how the new president of Wynn Resorts carries on the legacy left by Wynn and what he will do for and with the city to sustain the project in its entirety.
This is a huge change of affairs for Everett’s mayor, who had remained mum on the matter of Wynn’s appalling behavior and the allegations about his sexual misconduct and secret payouts to women he had sex with against their will.
Mr. Wynn said he was stepping down because of “an avalanche of bad publicity.”
He will be replaced by Matt Maddox, who has been president of Wynn Resorts since 2013. Mr. Maddox joined the company in 2002 after working in corporate finance for what is now Caesars Entertainment.
Among other things, he was accused of demanding that women masturbate him or massage him naked. A manicurist said that when she went to his office for an appointment in 2005, he pressured her to disrobe, lie on his massage table and have sex. The woman told co-workers about the episode at the time and filed a human resources report. Ultimately, Mr. Wynn paid her a $7.5 million settlement, according to The Journal.
Mr. Wynn has denied all the allegations, calling them “preposterous.”
So Mr. Wynn is gone.
Now what?
This will certainly shake out immediately for Everett and we will know where the city stands after the new president arrives here and set’s out the map of his agenda for the company.
The investigation launched by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is obviously at an end but it does not end the process of approving the change of president and all things attendant with the rules and regulations of the Gaming Commission that must be met.
So the story is not all over with Wynn’s resignation.
Wynn stock has tumbled from a high of $200 a share recently to $163 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wynn’s departure is a two-edged sword.
The heat is off for Wynn Resorts.
But the future is different without its founder.