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Las Vegas Sands slaps down worries that U.S.-China tensions could threaten its Macau casinos

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The revived U.S.-China trade war is already causing headaches for companies like Boeing that now face the prospect of being shut out of the world’s second-largest economy. 

But U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands is betting that worsening relations between Washington and Beijing won’t threaten its operations in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau.

“I think we have an incredible relationship with Beijing, and we’ve worked on it for many, many years,” said CEO Rob Goldstein on a call with analysts after the company reported its first-quarter earnings. 

“We’re a big believer in the relationship between China and the U.S. We’re very disheartened [by] what’s happening right now. Hopefully, we can get back on track, but it doesn’t keep me up at night,” he added, responding to a question about whether geopolitical uncertainty was on his mind.

In recent weeks, analysts have speculated whether an escalating U.S.-China trade war could put resorts in Macau at risk. In addition to Las Vegas Sands, which operates resorts like the Venetian and the Londoner through its Sands China subsidiary, fellow U.S. casino operators MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts also have properties in the Chinese city. 

Las Vegas Sands, No. 387 on the Fortune 500, is one of a handful of companies on the famous ranking that makes almost all of its revenue outside the U.S. The casino has five resorts in Macau and one in Singapore. 

The company reported net revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter ended March 31, down 3.4% from the same period a year earlier. Net income also fell 30% to reach $408 million. 

The dip was partly driven by softness in Las Vegas Sands’ Macau operations, where visitor numbers have yet to match pre–COVID 2019 levels. The company has pointed to redevelopment at its Londoner resort for softer Macau revenues. 

Chief operating officer Patrick Dumont noted on the recent earnings call that all of the Londoner’s 2,405 rooms and suites are now operational, ahead of China’s Labor Day Golden Week holiday that starts May 1.

The company’s Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore continued to post strong performance. Revenue for Singapore rose to $1.16 billion, growing from $1.15 billion the same period a year ago.

Las Vegas Sands in fact reported greater earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization from its Singapore business, compared with its Macau business. 

Goldstein was optimistic that the Singapore business would maintain its performance, particularly as the country’s government hopes to draw more visitors. 

“It’s very special who goes to Singapore,” Goldstein said. “I think it’s driven because of the overall goal of the government of Singapore, which is to create opportunity for high-value tourism.”

Shares of both Las Vegas Sands and its subsidiary, Sands China, are both down over 30% for the year so far.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Nearly five years after Tony Hsieh died in a house fire, it looks like the Zappos CEO’s will has finally been found

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  • Tony Hsieh left behind hundreds of millions of dollars after his accidental death caused by a house fire in 2020. But after years of his family, friends, and colleagues battling over his fortune in court, it looks like an original will, signed by Hsieh and five witnesses in 2015, has been discovered.

Tony Hsieh, cofounder and CEO of the shoe and clothing retailer Zappos, died in a house fire in New London, Conn., in 2020. While he struggled with substance abuse, medical examiners ruled his death an accident. Hsieh was just 46 years old. 

Since then, Hsieh’s inner circle has spent years fighting in court over his estate, which was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Most of his fortune came from Hsieh’s 2009 sale of Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion, and Hsieh had apparently left sticky notes all over his Park City, Utah, home, promising millions to friends and former colleagues.

But in a surprise twist, it seems as though an original will—signed by Hsieh and five witnesses, dated March 13, 2015—has been discovered.

According to a filing from the Clark Country District Court in Nevada, the document was found in February in the personal belongings of a man who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, named Pir Muhammad. It’s not clear how Muhammad and Hsieh knew each other, but the court filing says Muhammad (who did not know Hsieh had died) was given “exclusive possession” of the original will to prevent any tampering. Muhammad was also one of the five witnesses who signed the will; another witness, named Ishrat Daud, told the Wall Street Journal he indeed acted as a witness “a number of years ago” but had nothing more to say on the matter.

The recent court filing also mentioned a video recording was made, but it’s unclear if the video was also found, and what’s even featured on the video. The next scheduled hearing for this case, on May 22, may shed more light on the matter.

As for the will itself, Hsieh left $3 million to Harvard University, his alma mater; $500,000 each to Unicef and the American Red Cross; $250,000 each to the Buffett Foundation, Americares Foundation, and the Gates Foundation; $1 million to his trustee, Muzammal Hussain, and STRYV365, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people navigate and deal with trauma; and $500,000 each to his mother, Judy, father Richard, and brothers Andrew and David.

The will also reportedly includes a no-contest clause that says if any of his four remaining family members fight Hsieh’s wishes, none of them will receive any of his gifts.

“I have structured my way of surprising and leaving essentially all my beneficiaries to experience the ‘WOW’ factor in their life,” the purported will says. “I want my beneficiaries to ‘live in the wow.’”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Google wows Wall Street with strong Q1, but deflects questions about its business since Trump’s tariffs

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If the economy is heading into a downturn, Google hasn’t felt it.

Or at least, it didn’t feel it up until March 31.

The internet search giant reported strong Q1 results on Thursday that sent its stock up as much as 5% after hours, as its key advertising and cloud businesses delivered healthy growth. But those results apply to the first calendar quarter of the year, just before the Trump-triggered global trade war began in earnest.

As for the business conditions Google is currently experiencing: Google isn’t saying. Executives at Google-parent company Alphabet maintained a disciplined silence on Thursday’s earnings call about anything that’s happened in the current quarter, despite analysts’ efforts to get an update.

“It’s really too early to comment,” chief business officer Philipp Schindler said in response to one such query.

“We’re obviously not immune to the macro environment, but we wouldn’t want to speculate about potential impacts,” Schindler said. (The one tidbit of information Schindler was willing to share involved the scrapping of the so-called de-minimis shipping exemption relied on by Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu, which would cause a “slight headwind” to Google’s advertising business in 2025, particularly from Asian retailers).

After weeks of turmoil in the markets, and a variety of concerns weighing on Google in particular, the company’s strong Q1 report card—along with the news that it would bump up its dividend by a penny a share and repurchase another $70 billion of stock—was more than enough reason for investors to celebrate on Thursday.

Google grew its topline 12% year-over-year in Q1 to $90.2 billion, beating the average analyst expectation of $89.2 billion, while earnings per share came in at $2.81 versus the $2.01 expected by Wall Street. The company ascribed the growth to strong demand from advertisers in the financial industry, insurance, healthcare, and retail.

Revenue from ads on video site YouTube grew 10% from the prior year to $8.9 billion, while Google’s cloud business increased 28% to $12.3 billion.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai touted gains in the company’s AI efforts, including the “AI Overviews” being rolled out across Google’s search service, which Pichai said is now used by 1.5 billion users per month. And the company re-affirmed its previously announced plan to spend $75 billion in capital expenditures for its cloud and AI infrastructure this year, signaling that it remains bullish on the AI business.

Many dangers facing Google

It’s a tricky time for Alphabet. Going into Thursday’s earnings report, the company’s shares had slid roughly 15% so far this year, larger than the drop suffered by the Nasdaq or the S&P 500.

Alphabet’s business faces grave dangers on multiple fronts, as the economic uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs pressures its core advertising business, the proliferation of powerful new AI models threaten to disrupt its internet search dominance, and government regulators seek to break up the company

The court cases and regulatory threats faced by Alphabet went unmentioned during Thursday’s earnings call, as executives highlighted progress in the company’s various products, from its fast-growing YouTube subscriptions business to its self-driving Waymo cars.

The fact that Alphabet historically hasn’t offered detailed “guidance” forecasts on its earnings calls gives it some cover to avoid the elephant in the room—the current state of demand from advertisers (as opposed to the state of demand in Q1).

Because advertising accounts for roughly three-quarters of Alphabet’s revenue, the health of the global ad market in the months to come will be critical. Advertising and marketing budgets are typically among the first expenses companies cut in an economic downturn, and with uncertainty over tariffs, many economists and investors are concerned about a potential recession.

If Google’s business were truly falling off a cliff in April, the company may have felt obligated to at least give some kind of warning. To some, the fact that Google stayed mum could be interpreted as a tacit sign of confidence. And while Schindler sidestepped questions about business conditions in April, he alluded to Google’s experience in previous economic recessions and the comparative resilience of search advertising compared to other types of advertising.

“To zoom out,” Schindler said, “I would say we have a lot or experience in managing through uncertain times.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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