This Month
- Exclusive
- Casinos
Blackstone builds Crown Resorts debt bomb as casino profits slide
The private equity giant says it’s comfortable with the big loan it took to buy the casino operator, despite the interest bill and an earnings crunch.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios and Amelia McGuire
October
Why Tabcorp’s Gill McLachlan has banned pollies from the Birdcage
Politicians and journalists have been given short shrift, while Anthony Albanese and others will probably skip G.H. Mumm’s private jet theme.
- Patrick Durkin
Crown sells abandoned Southbank precinct, private jet
Blackstone’s casino giant Crown Resorts has narrowed its losses and is shedding some of its biggest assets to offset financial challenges.
- Zoe Samios
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
All this drama at Star for a slap on the wrist and $15m fine?
The casino group gets one more chance in Sydney, but is far from being out of the woods. It could go broke if it doesn’t secure a big new backer by this time next year.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Exclusive
- Casinos
Blackstone quietly injects almost $500m into ailing Crown Resorts
The financing came a year after the firm acquired the casino operator for $8.9 billion. Its operations have been hurt by fines and a lack of high rollers.
- Zoe Samios and Anthony Macdonald
Blackstone’s Crown knocked back in NSW pokies request
Sources said the proposal involved buying poker machines that would have otherwise been purchased by the NSW government under a five-year buyback scheme.
- Zoe Samios
September
- Exclusive
- Casinos
Blackstone’s Crown Resorts mulls sale of luxury Melbourne golf course
The 18-hole Capital is one of the country’s most private and catered exclusively for the casino group’s high rollers. Now wealthy businessmen want to revive it.
- Zoe Samios
Blackstone is burning through Crown Casino
The global real estate giant has lost another top-ranking casino executive, to go with the two others who left last month.
- Mark Di Stefano
August
Ciaran Carruthers to leave Crown Resorts
The departing chief executive will be replaced by David Tsai as interim CEO from September 1.
- Zoe Samios
July
- Exclusive
- Restaurants
Crown offloads Nobu stake in deal valuing restaurant group at $1.3b
Blackstone-run Crown has had a 20 per cent stake in the acclaimed Japanese chain, part-owned by Robert De Niro, since James Packer bought in a decade ago.
- Nick Lenaghan and Matthew Cranston
June
Star casino chair lets loose on LinkedIn
Star Entertainment is celebrating its award-winning staff inclusion. What would the leader of the board think about it?
- Mark Di Stefano
All in the family for Gil McLachlan’s fantastic corporate adventure
The new jobs for the former AFL CEO include advising Blackstone, where his cousin is chairman of private equity.
- Mark Di Stefano
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The top 21 moments in Chanticleer history
The Chanticleer column has charted the highs and lows of corporate Australia since 1974. Here are a few of the highlights.
- James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald
- Updated
- Casinos
Ex-Virgin boss John Borghetti appointed Crown Resorts chairman
Bill McBeath, a veteran US casino executive who ran The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, will step aside but remain on the Blackstone-owned gaming group’s board.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios
May
- Exclusive
- Gaming & wagering
Brisbane developer emerges at centre of Star’s Hard Rock mystery
The Florida-based entertainment giant said it had not authorised its name for use, despite Star telling investors it had received a proposal.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios, Anthony Macdonald and Liam Walsh
Casino regulator bans Star staff from tables over collusion
The NSW Independent Casino Commission has banned the two employees from operating games in the state for a decade.
- Zoe Samios
Blackstone wants bigger Australia bet as brighter economy beckons
Jon Gray says the US private capital giant will look to increase its exposure to Australia ahead of what he expects will be an economic upswing.
- James Thomson
April
Super Retail’s alleged executive tryst packs heat on the board
Bombshell claims against CEO Anthony Heraghty have been aired in public, putting the spotlight on chairwoman Sally Pitkin.
- Updated
- Mark Di Stefano
- Exclusive
- Casinos
Blackstone’s Crown to shed 1000 jobs in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth
Job losses will be split between the corporate division and the three casino precincts. Crown says the decision was driven by economic-related pressures.
- Zoe Samios
X owner Elon Musk doubles down on Sydney stabbing video
Billionaire Elon Musk has taken to X to question why the Australian eSafety Commissioner should have the authority to force his social media platform to block videos of a Sydney terror attack. How the day unfolded.
- Updated