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Robbie Cooke

June

The dining room at Parlar in Sydney’s Potts Point.

At Star, only the executives got a Christmas party

At an end-of-year dinner with chief executive Robbie Cooke, the casino group’s top managers learnt they were in a war with their regulator.

  • Aaron Patrick

May

Robbie Cooke at his home in Brisbane this week.

At Star, one man held all the cards

Chief executive Robbie Cooke was determined to lead every important project at the troubled casino group, former executives say.

  • Aaron Patrick

April

Former Star Entertainment Group head Robbie Cooke in 2022.

Former Star CEO says he felt ‘under assault’ from casino regulator

Robbie Cooke left last month after NSW officials made it clear they did not think he was moving fast enough to fix governance and cultural issues at the group.

  • Updated
  • Zoe Samios
Former Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke.

Robbie Cooke’s last stand shows Star Entertainment’s big problem

The gaming group’s former chief executive said he felt under attack by the company’s regulator. Has this us-and-them mentality really left the business?

  • James Thomson
Former Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke.

Star’s ‘lost’ six months could cost it dearly

Star’s failure to change its culture after a series of scandals could now cost it the chance to win back its casino licence.

  • James Thomson
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Former Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke and executive chairman David Foster.

‘Get ready for war’: Star chairman and CEO’s descent into madness

The embattled casino group told the world it was co-operating with its regulator. But behind the scenes, it was dreaming up a hare-brained scheme to sue them.

  • Updated
  • James Thomson

March

Run out of town: Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke.

The $5b whack: why it’s time to come clean to Star’s shareholders

As the sheriff runs Star executives out of town again, things are starting to look like a corporate assassination and the sort of battle investors cannot win.

  • Anthony Macdonald

November 2023

Luke and Mark Finn co-founders of Roller, a venue management software platform, have raised $77.8 million.

High Roller: Melbourne brothers bank $78.6m for start-up

US-based Insight Partners has injected $US50 million ($78.6 million) into Melbourne-based software business Roller.

  • Tess Bennett

October 2023

Star Entertainment boss Robbie Cooke: earning less by the month

Star’s capital-raise costs Robbie Cooke

Even before the AGM approves his retention rights, the casino titan’s CEO is out some $500,000 on their face value.

  • Myriam Robin

May 2023

Star Entertainment Group CEO Robbie Cooke.

Star CEO Cooke bites the bullet on job cuts, redundancies fly

The Star Entertainment Group boss spent one week reviewing all jobs across the organisation, before finding the 500 positions that would go.

  • Anthony Macdonald

April 2023

Star Entertainment has endured a torrid six months.

Star invested $1.3b in its Sydney casino, now it may have to sell it

This week, the battered gaming giant put on the table a possible sale of its flagship Sydney asset – a 28-year-old institution.

  • Lucas Baird

Star puts Sydney sale on the cards

Star Entertainment has put its flagship Sydney casino up for review and will cut 500 jobs, cancel executive bonuses this financial year, and freeze salaries.

  • Updated
  • Lucas Baird and Samantha Hutchinson
Institutional investors have backed the troubled casino operator Star Entertainment Group.

NSW tax reprieve looks like long odds for Star

Any hopes that Labor will dramatically reverse course on its Coalition predecessors’ plan to increase casino taxes are misplaced.

  • Lucas Baird

February 2023

Star CEO Robbie Cooke has super-sized a capital raising for the group.

Star now has $1b of breathing space. It’ll need it

A capital raising will help bring much-needed stability to the casino giant’s balance sheet, but its legal, regulatory and operational problems still need to be fixed.

  • Updated
  • James Thomson
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has kicked Star when its down.

Star’s $1b wipeout is bad. It could get much worse

Scandals are hurting the company’s business, but the threat posed by a NSW government tax hike has investors fleeing for the exits. 

  • James Thomson
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January 2023

New Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke.

Star’s devastating tax hit smacks of populism

The NSW government levy that has wiped a stunning 30 per off the company’s valuation is an example of the sort of populist interventions investors should fear. 

  • James Thomson

December 2022

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has kicked Star when it’s down.

Tax hit on Star is cost of a broken social licence

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean’s shock tax hit on Star Entertainment Group shows how friendless Australia’s scandal-hit casino operators really are.

  • Updated
  • James Thomson

October 2022

Star Entertainment Group has been found unfit to hold its Sydney casino licence.

New Star CEO accepts casino ‘lost its way’, starts job early

Robbie Cooke, the current Tyro boss, will start work at the beleaguered casino group next Monday rather than December 31.

  • Elouise Fowler

August 2021

Tyro’s Robbie Cooke said the result was phenomenal given the challenging environment.

Tyro narrows loss on surging transaction volume

Payments player sees a 26 per cent rise in transaction volumes despite horror outage in January that affected three in 10 customers.

  • James Frost

June 2021

One of the “bricked” Tyro terminals from earlier this year.

Tyro’s tilt at rebuilding terminal trust

The failed ‘handshake’ that brought down a significant proportion of Tyro’s terminals added insult to injury for many of its customers.

  • James Frost

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/robbie-cooke-53m