By Josh Resnek
There is nothing quite like an ex-wife who has been scorned by the likes of Steve Wynn, her disgraced ex-husband.
Wynn was revealed as a sexual degenerate. The company he founded with his ex-wife gave no support to employees he and others might have sexually harassed.
Vengeance is mine and I shall repay seems to be the former Mrs. Wynn’s mantra.
It has been effective.
Elaine Wynn appears to have won a giant victory even before the May 16 meeting of Wynn Resorts shareholders.
Her push to entirely change the company’s governing board is nearly complete.
Her mandates for change, according to Bloomberg News, revealed they received a huge vote, overwhelming, indicating she is in charge of changing the company she helped to found.
This is not being done out of hubris, say experts familiar with Wynn Resorts.
At 76, Elaine Wynn is not thinking about a short-term stock pop, or some clever exercise in financial engineering. Her ego does not require her to go on the board herself, and play the conquering hero. She is thinking about the company’s long-term prospects. She is also thinking about her legacy, it was written in Bloomberg Monday morning.
“My mission was to resurrect the integrity of this extraordinary company that is really the capstone of my career,” she told New York Times columnist James Stewart shortly before the annual meeting.
The proxy fight she engaged in led to the resignation of two more board members, the director she was trying to oust because he was Steve Wynn’s dear friend, and a second board member, the longest serving, who resigned rather than to become the object of her proxy fight to be rid of everyone who nearly brought down the company.
Elaine Wynn is the company’s largest stockholder and very likely the reason the Massachusetts Gaming Commission might find the company suitable to own a gaming license here.
She has demanded a refreshed board, a new vision, a company more responsible to its employees, investors and the patrons of its casinos and hotels.
The bet is that company President Matt Maddox, who made $24 million in salary in 2017 and was a close friend associate of Steve Wynn’s, will be the next to fall.
With Elaine Wynn’s successful efforts to change the company in full force, the company’s fortunes will rise in Massachusetts.
She believes the company has excellent assets, and that with the right leadership, it can weather the fallout of the various investigations into her ex-husband’s behavior.