Republican Party casino magnate and megadonor Sheldon Adelson is stepping down from his Las Vegas Sands Corp. for cancer treatment and leaving his business amid economic uncertainty in the global gambling industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Adelson, 87, founded Las Vegas Sands and went on to lead the company after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which the company announced in March 2019. The billionaire is taking medical leave to resume his cancer treatment.
Mr. Adelson, whose family is the majority owner of the company, said his succession plan is that the current executive team, including 25-year-old Sands veteran Robert Goldstein, and Adelson’s son-in-law Patrick Dumont, will lead the company. according to a person familiar with the conversations.
Mr. Goldstein, who was recently chief operating officer and president, was named acting chief executive and chairman by Sands’ board during the medical leave of Mr. Adelson, the company said Thursday. Dumont joined the company in 2010 and is chief financial officer and executive vice president.
Las Vegas Sands operates casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, in the Chinese area of Macau and in Singapore. Since Covid-19 swept around the world for the first time last year, the closure of casinos and pandemic restrictions wiped out the revenues of gambling companies. Las Vegas Sands’ revenue fell 82% in the third quarter of last year compared to the same quarter last year.