The 2015 annual meeting of the stockholders of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. will please come to order. My name is Rob Goldstein. I am the President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. I want to thank and welcome all of you for your interest in our company. As president of the company, I will preside at this meeting. The agenda for this afternoon includes all formal business stated in the proxy statement. Following this meeting, we will conduct a Q&A. Please note that this meeting is being webcast on our investor relations website, which can be accessed at www.sands.com. Thank you. Also present at the meeting today are Sheldon G. Adelson, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Other members of our board of directors, Jason Ader, Irwin Chafetz, Micheline Chau, Charles Forman, Steven Gerard, George Jamieson, Charles Koppelman, Michael Leven, and David Levy.
Ira Raphaelson, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, is also here today. Ira Raphaelson will act as secretary of the meeting. Each of you was given the rules of conduct when you entered the meeting room this morning. Additional copies are available in the registration area. It is our intention to conduct this meeting in accordance with the agenda and rules of conduct. Please remember that an opportunity will be provided immediately following the formal portion of the meeting for questions and discussion. Let us now proceed with the formal business of the meeting, namely, one, to elect four directors to our board, each for a three-year term. Two, consider and ratify the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2015.
To consider and act upon a non-binding advisory proposal on the compensation of the named executive officers. Lastly, to transact such other business as may properly come before this meeting or any adjournments thereof. Will the secretary please report on the mailing and notice of this meeting to all stockholders and the availability of the stockholders list. Ira?
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, I have an affidavit of mailing of the notice of internet availability of the proxy materials to each stockholder of record as of the close of business on April 13, 2015. I also present an alphabetical list showing all persons who were holders of record of the company's common stock at the close of business on April 13, 2015, the date the board of directors fixed as the date for determining stockholders entitled to the notice of and to vote at this meeting. The list has been duly certified by the American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, transfer agent of the company's shares. This list has been available for inspection for the 10 days prior to this meeting at the company's headquarters and is available for examination by any stockholder of the company for any purpose germane to this meeting at any time during the meeting.
Will the secretary please file the list of stockholders, the affidavit of mailing, and copies of the notice to internet availability of proxy materials transmitted to stockholders with the records of the meeting?
Yes, Mr. President.
Donna Ansbro of American Stock Transfer & Trust Company has been asked to act as Inspector of Election at this meeting. Ms. Ansbro is present and has submitted an oath of office, which will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. I will now ask those that are present with proxies who have not already done so, please file their proxies with the inspector at this time. If there are any stockholders present in person who did not register the door and have not filed a proxy, please provide your names, number of shares owned, the attendance at the door at this time. Will the inspector now report whether a quorum is present?
The shares outstanding at the record date, which are entitled to vote at this meeting, consist of 798,636,267 shares of common stock. From the count of the stockholders present in person or by proxy, a majority of those shares are represented at this meeting, either in person or by proxy, and a quorum is present.
Okay. Thank you. On the basis of the report of the inspector, I declare a quorum present and the meeting duly convened and competent to proceed with the transaction of business. The purpose of this stockholders meeting is for our stockholders to vote on the matters listed in the proxy statement I described a few minutes ago. Votes will be taken on these matters after all nominations and proposals have been introduced. Thereafter, the Inspector of Election will make a report on the outcome of the votes. We will now proceed with the formal business of the meeting. Please note that after each of the matters to be considered has been formally proposed, we will circulate written ballots so that stockholders who have not already voted by proxy may vote on these matters.
The first order of business is the nomination of our four individuals to stand for election to the board. All of the company's nominees are present here today. I would like to introduce them to you at this time. They are Jason Ader, Micheline Chau, Michael Leven, David Levy. All the nominees are current members of our board. Is there a motion on the proposed election of the four nominees?
Mr. President, I nominate Mr. Ader, Ms. Chau, Mr. Leven, Mr. Levy for election to serve as directors for a three-year term and until their successors have been duly elected and qualified.
I second the motion. Are there any questions or comments with respect to the proposal for the nomination of directors? If there are no further nominations, a motion to close the nominations is in order.
Mr. President, I move that the nominations be closed.
I second the motion. It has been moved and seconded that the nominations be closed. We will collect and tabulate the votes later in the meeting. The next order of business is the consideration and ratification of the independent registered public accounting firm selected by the Audit Committee of the board to audit the books and records of the company for the year ended December 31, 2015. The Audit Committee of the board has selected Deloitte & Touche LLP. I am pleased also to note the presence at the meeting today of Ed Ricks and Carl Bruner of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Mr. Ricks and Mr. Bruner are available to answer any questions that shareholders may pose. Any questions? Okay. I'll now entertain a resolution to ratify the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP to audit the books and records of the company for the year ended December 31, 2015.
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, I move that the following resolution be adopted: Resolved that the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP to audit the books and records of the company for the year ending December 31, 2015, be confirmed, ratified, and approved in all respects.
I second the motion. The motion has been moved and seconded. We will collect and tabulate the votes later in the meeting. I will now entertain a resolution to act upon the non-binding advisory proposal on executive compensation.
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, I move that the following resolution be adopted: Resolved that the stockholders approve the compensation of the named executive officers as disclosed pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the SEC, which disclosure shall include the compensation discussion and analysis, the compensation tables, and any related material disclosed in the proxy statement.
I second the motion. The motion is moved and seconded. We will collect and tabulate the votes later in the meeting. I now declare the polls open for voting by ballot. All those who wish to vote by ballot should obtain a ballot from an attendant. If you have already filed your proxy, it will simplify the count if you would not fill out a ballot unless you wish to change your vote. Has everyone voted who wishes to vote? Apparently, everyone has. I therefore declare the polls closed and ask the inspector to prepare a report on the voting. While the inspector is counting the ballots, I would like at this time to give Mr. Sheldon G. Adelson, our Chairman, Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, an opportunity to say a few words about the company. Sheldon?
Thank you, Rob. Thanks to all of you for joining us today, either in person or by webcast. I am pleased to report to you, our shareholders, that 2014 was another very successful year for our company. We continued to execute our operating strategies and fortify our position as the preeminent worldwide developer and operator of convention-based integrated resorts. Despite the challenges in the Macao market, we delivered another year of industry-leading financial performance, setting records in net revenues, adjusted property EBITDA, cash flow from operations, adjusted net income, and diluted earnings per share. These results reflect the continued growth of our business in Macao as we capitalize on the tremendous long-term opportunity to serve China and the broader Asian region with our portfolio of integrated resort properties on the Cotai Strip, as well as growth at the iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
While the Macao market is experiencing some headwinds today, I remain as confident now as I have ever been in the long-term opportunities for growth for company, both in Macao and in the wider Asian region. Despite that more challenging operating environment in Macao, our industry-leading financial strength enables us to stay fully committed to our investments and our development plans while continuing to return significant amounts of capital to shareholders. We will stay disciplined and continue to execute our three-pronged growth strategy. First, we will maximize cash flow from our existing property portfolio while investing for future growth. Second, we will nurture new integrated resort development opportunities in new markets. Third, we will pay generous recurring dividends, which we have every intention of growing in the years ahead as our business and cash flow grows.
We will return excess capital to shareholders through our stock repurchase program. We believe that successful execution of these strategies will enable us to deliver strong growth and outstanding returns to shareholders in the years ahead. The confidence we have in the strength of our business and the reliability and predictability of our cash flows have allowed us to regularly increase the return of capital to you and to me, the shareholders of Las Vegas Sands. Since we initiated our capital return program in 2012, we have returned over $8.6 billion of capital to shareholders of Las Vegas Sands in the form of dividends and share repurchases. In the fourth quarter of 2014, we announced that the Las Vegas Sands recurring dividend would increase by 30% to $2.60 per share or $0.65 per quarter for the 2015 calendar year. I say, yay, dividends.
I can safely say that we have been executing on our commitment to increase the return of capital to the shareholders. What I say to other institutional shareholders, that the Adelson family interest and the interest of other shareholders are aligned. My interests are exactly the same as yours, and yours are exactly the same as mine. We're heading in that direction. We continue to head onwards and upwards. As we have said in the past, as our EBITDA and cash flow grows. The cash not needed for capital expenditures and investments in new integrated resort developments will be returned to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases. Moving on to maximizing profitability at our existing properties. In 2014, we delivered another year of industry-leading financial performance.
As I mentioned before, we set records in net revenue, adjusted property EBITDA, cash flows from operations, adjusted net income, and diluted earnings per share. In Macao, we are very well positioned for future growth. We have the diversity of product offering, the scale and critical mass to cater to every type of business and leisure visitor. Our Macao property portfolio continues to generate market-leading visitation, and in 2014, we welcomed nearly 70 million visitors to our resorts. Our MICE-based integrated resort business model and unmatched investments clearly position the company well as travelers from China and in Asia more broadly increase their business and leisure travel and expenditures in the year ahead. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term MICE, we are not animal abusers. MICE means Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions.
It's an Asian term that's widespread over there. It's not either a European or U.S. term. Explain that to you. With the completion of the St. Regis Tower at Sands Cotai Central later this year, in around six months' time from now, and the opening of our next integrated resort development on the Cotai Strip, The Parisian Macao, next year in 2016, we will have invested in excess of $13 billion to deliver on our promise to help Macao in its economic diversification and its continued evolution into the world's leading business and leisure tourism destination. Our industry-leading investments will feature nearly 13,000 hotel rooms, 2 million sq ft of retail mall offerings, and nearly 2 million sq ft of MICE capacity.
The Parisian will be a highly themed destination integrated resort that will replicate familiar landmarks from Paris, including a standalone 40-story Eiffel Tower, shopping experiences that replicate a stroll down the Champs-Élysées, and of course, the famous Arc de Triomphe. I'd like to point out that there is an Eiffel Tower here in Las Vegas, and that has two legs going through the building. I'm happy to say that all four legs of our Eiffel Tower are going to be outside and visible to the visitor. Of course, we'll have the restaurants, and we'll have the elevator going up there. Importantly, what I'd like to say is that our Eiffel Tower is about the same height as the one you have here. In Macau, there was a height limit because we're so close to the airport. That's the maximum that we could make it.
If we didn't have that limitation, we'd build it just like the original Eiffel Tower. I think everybody will get the picture. Importantly, the benefits of our integrated resort business model will always extend far beyond our own financial success, as if that wasn't enough. The company's properties and service offerings featuring world-class dining, shopping, conventions, group meeting, and entertainment experiences enhance the appeal of our host countries as business and leisure tourism destinations while helping to diversify their economies, attract outside investment, increase employment, and provide meaningful career development opportunities for our host communities. We're confident our MICE space integrated resort business model could provide meaningful economic benefits in additional countries in Asia, and particularly in Japan and Korea.
We believe our unmatched track record of successful convention-based integrated resort development, coupled with our industry-leading financial strength, positions us exceedingly well to secure and capitalize on the most promising global integrated resort development opportunities. I might add, while this only says Japan and Korea, that we are still looking and aggressively, let's call it lobbying, in other countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan. Whatever country comes first, we think we're in the leading position because those countries have seen Marina Bay Sands as the iconic reference site. It's something that they themselves want. The government people go down to Marina Bay Sands, and they stand down there, they stand outside, and they point to it and say, "Give me one of those." We'll give them one of those. Not exactly the same. It'll have to be a little different.
We also see opportunities for growth here in Las Vegas and out of property in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Thank you once again for your support and for the confidence you continue to show in our company. I would also like to take a moment to thank our nearly 50,000 team members worldwide for the hard work over the last year, and congratulate them on a job well done. We look forward to sharing with you the ongoing success of the company in the years ahead. I look forward to addressing your questions in just a few minutes. Thank you.
Thank you, Sheldon.
Thank you.
Let us now proceed with the voting results. Is the inspector ready to report?
Yes, sir. The results of the balloting are as follows: In the election of directors, Jason N. Ader, Micheline Chau, Michael A. Leven, and David F. Levy have been elected directors of the company by the affirmative vote of a plurality of the votes cast at the meeting. With respect to the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31st, 2015, the proxies and ballots representing a majority of the votes cast by stockholders present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote at the meeting were voted in favor of the resolution. Therefore, the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31st, 2015, has been ratified.
With respect to the non-binding advisory proposal on the compensation of the named executive officers, the proxies and ballots representing a majority of the votes cast by stockholders present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote at the meeting were voted in favor of the resolution, and therefore, the proposal has been approved.
Thank you. On the basis of the report of the inspector, I declare that the resolutions covering the election of four directors to the board of directors, the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, and the non-binding advisory proposal on the compensation of the named executive officers have all been approved. Will the inspector please prepare a written record to be filed with the records of the meeting?
Yes, I will.
Thank you. If there are no other business to come before the meeting, a motion is in order that the meeting be adjourned.
Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, I move that the meeting be adjourned.
I second the motion.
It is moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned. All those stockholders in favor, signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Those stockholders opposed, please say no. The motion is carried. The meeting is adjourned. At this point, we would be happy to answer any question you may have regarding the company. If you have a question, please rise and identify yourself so we maybe have a complete record for the meeting. Please note that the question and the answer period is being webcast on our investor relations website. Let's proceed with the Q&A. Any questions?
Gentleman over here to my left.
Jesus?
Yes, please.
Afternoon.
Hi.
My name is Joe Little. I run HughesLittle Investment Management of Vancouver. We are stockholders.
Smart move.
Pardon me?
Smart move.
I read the Galaxy's expansion received a fraction of the number of tables they'd hoped for. I'm just curious on what our expectations are for The Parisian in terms of number of tables, and if we find ourselves in that situation. Clearly, that would change the economics of the new project. Maybe you could comment on that.
Well, let Rob comment on that.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We obviously wait for the government's advice on how many tables. As in the past, we have a belief that based on what we have done previously in Macau, we'll be treated very favorably. We have no way to know if it's 150 tables, 500 tables. We just don't know. Galaxy and other competitors recently took a page out of our playbook by doing more non-gaming amenities. We've been there for 10 years. When Sheldon really authored the strategy for Cotai, people found it fun to laugh at, but it couldn't make sense. Today, it's obviously the most important real estate in the gaming world. Along with that strategy, he also brought lots of retail, restaurants, MICE space, et cetera. I believe that strategy was very well advised then, and even more so today. The government has stated that's one of the reasons how they give tables.
We're hoping for a favorable decision as it regards to Parisian. There's no way of knowing. That's a government decision. We'll stand behind it. You should keep in mind, we have tables, we can be a little more adaptable, if you will, than Galaxy and some of our competitors because we've built buildings there previously. We have a lot more tables than others because we built a lot more buildings. We invest a lot more capital. We're a little more flexible in that regard. Again, we'll wait for the government and hope that our history proves to be very helpful in getting a fair number of tables.
When the cap went on, I think it was in 2010 or 2011. Where's the gentleman? I said that. We already had 1,500-plus tables. That was consistent with the critical mass of sleeping rooms and the size of the casino that we planned specifically for growth and specifically to focus on the mass and the premium mass market. That's the lower end and sort of the middle end. The high end, we really didn't want to push when we first started. In each of our properties, whether here in Vegas or Macau or in Singapore, we always opened with a reliance mostly on the mass market. Our fundamental structure, including our 1,500-plus tables, is more than any of the six concessionaires. I don't want to say that we don't need the tables. We do need more tables.
To the extent that we have more tables in our other five properties that we could take, it's never that every single table performs exactly the same. It's usually the core and the periphery. The core, the busier part of the casino, is open more hours, and you get more hours out of each table per 24-hour period, per day. We're going to, now that the VIP market is sort of drying up and flying away, to quote an old expression. We are still doing what we call premium direct. That means instead of going through junket reps, we deal directly with the customers that we know and with whom we have a very good credit and collection experience. We're going to do what the government wants us to do and try to put in to make up.
We asked for 450 tables because that's what we felt that we needed when they said, "Okay, how many tables are you going to need?" Everybody put in 500, 550. We put in 450 to say we can get along with 450 tables. We will have tables that will move from the VIP market down to the mass and the middle mass market, between the mass and the VIP. We expect that that will, until we can get some more tables from the government, we expect that that will accommodate what we need. Did I fully answer your question?
Fully.
Fully. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Martin Capella. I'm a local stockholder. Ever since last year's stockholder meetings, I have expected that there would be a drawback over in the Orient, and I see that there is, and I'm sure we'll be able to cope with that. What I did want to say was I am very glad that you're holding the meeting here this year in Las Vegas because Las Vegas is a place where we want our customers to come to hold their meetings, and by holding our meeting here, we kind of bring that forward a little. I want to thank you for that. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Welcome.
My name is Joe Halloran. I live out in California, a little north of Santa Barbara, and I've been a shareholder since March of 2006. I want to thank you for the amazing work you guys have accomplished in those years. It's been a wild ride, needless to say.
You're telling us.
Yeah. Watching from afar, I can't even appreciate what you guys have done or gone through, but you've certainly done a lot, and my family appreciates it, too. Two just questions I was trying to stay current on and never sure if you're reading or hearing the right information. One is the status of the condos/service apartments as far as monetizing them, and the second thing is, what is the latest timeframe on the highway from Hong Kong? I'll sit down. Thank you.
I have been discussing with There's been new ministers. They call them secretaries. There are new ministers or secretaries that have been appointed for various things. On recent meetings there since the beginning of the year, I've talked to all of the pertinent decision-makers. There seems to be a little inconsistency in what people think who's responsible for what, but my last meeting solved that. The powers to be, the powers that are said, "You get X, certain people together, we will have a joint meeting, and we will move this thing forward." Rather than we have delayed selling the Four Seasons and now what will be the St. Regis Apartments because they've given us permission to sell on a co-op basis. The manner in which we would like to sell, we commonly refer to as condominium basis.
Over there, they call it strata title, which means every floor, I guess, is a different strata, and title can transfer because of whatever strata it's on. I'm going over there next week, not this coming week, the week after, we're setting up the meetings that have been requested with the Responsible parties together, I'm hopeful that they'll give us the okay to go back to the original request that we had of selling condominiums. I wouldn't have built the St. Regis if I didn't have the okay to be able to sell them. We could sell them by co-ops, but it's much better, we'll get a much higher price if we could sell them under what's called strata title. What was your second question?
The road from Hong Kong.
Road from Hong Kong was supposed to be finished originally in 2016. It jumped to 2017, they say, "Oh, well, there was some engineering error in some undersea connection." They say, "Oh, that error had been fixed," now they're back to 2017. Of course, the price, like all big infrastructure projects, has increased substantially. We're hoping it'll be open on the 17th. People have been quoting for years and years that it will be a game changer for Macau. One of the reasons there is because the bridge is starting on the island called Lantau Island, L-A-N-T-A-U, Lantau Island, where the Hong Kong International Airport is. Disney World is there, the Disneyland, whatever they call it. If you come out of the airport and you go one way, you're going to a 45-minute car ride into Hong Kong Island.
You go through Kowloon, the populated expansion of the peninsula, of the mainland, there's Victoria Harbour, which separates that from Hong Kong Island. To go to Hong Kong Island is 45 minutes. You come out of the airport and go to the other side, in 20 minutes, you're in Macau. That holds the promise of bringing a very substantial amount of additional business from not only Hong Kong, but from There are 180 cities that are serviced by the 100 airlines that service the Hong Kong International Airport. I say that essentially, it could be named the Hong Kong and Macau International Airport, although there's also another airport. The main airport of Macau is in Macau, off of Taipa, the first island that you come over any one of three bridges to from the peninsula, what's called the peninsula.
Macau will have a second airport that is a true international airport, one of the biggest airports in Asia, with, as I say, 180 cities being served by 100 airlines already. You don't have to build that up. This could be a game changer for us, for Macau. It could bring in people. It'll improve the MICE market so people can get there very easy. Right now, you go to the airport, you either had to wait for a ferry, they didn't have regular service until we put one of our ferries there. They had irregular service from Shun Tak, our competitor in the ferries. I know my people, when they travel over there, they take a plane that will get them closer to the ferry connection. From now on, you can go there anytime.
Just got on the road, in 20 minutes you'll be in Macau. Did I answer your question?
Yes, sir. Thank you.
Okay. Nobody over here has any questions? Okay. These are the only curious people? Okay. Well, we'll get to you next.
Sir.
Thank you. My name is Stephan Wolf. First I'd like to acknowledge the board of directors for shaping the vision of Mr. Adelson over the last number of years. I'd also like to thank the management company for executing the vision. Uncle Shelly, I'd like to thank you, as you're affectionately known around our household, for driving the dividend push. Which leads to my question.
I told you our interests are aligned.
Which leads to my question. Currently today, even though we've had a 10% move in the last couple of days, the yield is quite high, and I know that everyone would like to see a larger dividend. My concern is that we witnessed Wynn this year having to pull back on their dividend, and let's not get in that situation. What's the thought process about slowing the dividend increase down so that we don't get into that position?
We wouldn't have announced the dividend we did if we didn't have a thorough analysis and sensitivity analysis, which means how low do things have to go before our commitments are in jeopardy. That's called a sensitivity analysis. We just have a more conservative approach. Wynn is a great operator, but he focused primarily in Macau on the high end of the market. He's very good at that. He's better than we are at that. We're much better at the mass to the medium, to the medium high roller. We have been very conservative in our estimates of how much money we have and under what circumstances.
We have stressed the sensitivity analyses so that in worst-case, we could still pay the dividends and still that's the basis that we had, that's the criteria we had to meet, so that we had enough money in the event any one of these five countries that we're pushing for become a reality. We think we're just more conservative in our estimates.
My follow-up question would be, would we discontinue the stock buyback or first prior to the dividend situation we'd get into? I mean, we're.
Would we discontinue? No, we figured everything involved. Future development, which is very important, the stock buybacks, the dividend, would we have enough money, and without having to borrow any money. We have monetizable assets that are reasonably quickly monetizable. That is all of the retail malls, including the mall at the Four Seasons, which frankly at $7,000 per sq ft in sales, on which we get a percentage, is the highest sales per sq ft U.S. dollar terms of any mall in the world. We have taken a very conservative approach, the last thing I want to do is announce a dividend, I announce that we intend to increase dividend 10% a year, although I'd like to see it much more, for the next three years. There hasn't been a time that I haven't kept my word.
When in 2008 and 2009, it was advised by investment banker that we needed money, I stepped up and I got a vote from my family and my grown children, from my dear wife, that I could put $1 billion back into the company, and we did. I want to point out to you that nobody in my family, including my wife and I, have sold a share of stock since the time you bought in in 2006. That's nine years we haven't sold a single share. If I thought things were going to hell in a handbasket, you would think that I would sell some stock to further diversify, I haven't, I have no intention at this time to do so. Okay, let's go over to this quiet side.
Sir, it's quicker this way. It's right here, yeah.
Yeah, this mic, there's no extra charge to use this one.
It's brand new.
My name's Gary Tilden. I'm a Las Vegas resident, and I've been a stockholder since back in 2006 at $3 a share. Anyway.
If you want a profit on that, I'll be happy to give you a pull.
One of my concerns is I firmly believe that the stock is extremely and very badly undervalued. I compare it with other institutions, and it doesn't seem to be getting the price in the marketplace that it deserves. I also firmly believe that one of the ways to increase the value to the stockholders and the stock price is for increased dividends, contrary to previous speaker. Someone's got to pay for that. It's got to come from somewhere. What I want to know is, have you guys considered a REIT, which is many of the other corporations are doing, and using the money that you save in taxes toward increased dividends? That's.
We've considered those monetizable mall assets, retail mall assets that we have, considering put them in a REIT. We're talking about it. We're looking at it. We're consulting with people, our investment bankers and other people that have more experience in REITs.
Right.
We can't put our Singapore Mall in a REIT yet because the government has limited us. We can't sell anything off or transfer anything before 2017. That's not too far away from now. We're considering it.
Okay.
It'll take a while to get all the land leases in Macau in which the You can't own fee simple-
Right. I understand
In China. They won't sell a piece of the motherland, so our leases would have to be changed, and it would take a little while to do that.
We are more actively seeing what we can do to monetize. We could sell, we probably have anywhere from $8 billion-$12 billion worth of retail assets in Macau. With our-- We have a net debt. That means our gross debt minus cash on hand is down to about $6 billion, I think. That's why I'm not concerned about the debt. Our interest rate, by the way, is down to, in most cases, below 2%. Below 2%. When we first opened the property in which we're now sitting, our interest rate was 10.5% for the first mortgage and 14.25% for the second.
That's quite an improvement.
Quite an improvement.
Yeah.
Our credit rating was lower than whale doo doo. We now have two out of three. We expect the third one to give us an investment-grade rating like the other two have.
We're now, at a corporation, an investment-grade rating.
Okay. Very good.
We've had a big change. If people took a close look at our balance sheet, we should've been, a long time ago, investment grade.
I still don't understand why the stock price is so low compared with what your balance sheet does show. It just doesn't make sense.
I agree with you. It doesn't make sense in comparison with the other companies in our sector. The sector being not such a big sector in the world, it's not like oil and gas and food, lots of other industries where the sector is very large. We only have just handfuls of company in our sector. We typically trade in tandem. When one company goes down, all of them-
Yeah
go down, and the opposite when we go up. The only way for us to differentiate is if we get a new emerging market. I could tell you that if any one of you out here would talk to somebody in any one of these countries and ask them who is in the pole position, who is the leading candidate to get an IR, and they'll tell you Las Vegas Sands. If one of those occurs, we will certainly differentiate ourselves from the rest of the pack.
If our stock goes up, they won't be able to go up with us.
Yeah, because like I said, it just hasn't made sense for years. I don't know. Anyway, one other thought.
Again, I want to point out, I haven't gotten discouraged, and I haven't sold a share.
Yeah. Well, I wished I hadn't sold.
Oh, now you're telling the truth
my $3 shares. I made 400% or 500% of my money, thought I was a big deal. Now, if I was sitting on them today. Hand me a gun. One other thought was, and I understand it's been bandied about, and I don't mean it as a joke, has the consideration been Well, let us say Wynn is sitting on his knees begging for it again, a Kerkorian-style hostile takeover that could be purchased probably for less than half the price of building a casino. Has this thought been considered?
We and our investment bankers have considered all possibilities. I can't say that we have any conclusion. Wynn is operating in exactly two out of our three big markets, and we're looking at whether or not
Yeah.
To me, it's only a remote thought because one has to consider that the name of the property is Wynn, and if Wynn isn't still there running them, the property is just as good as when he is there running them. There are a lot of other considerations.
considerations.
I don't want to do a hostile buyout. Wynn and I have become very friendly.
Yeah, this is what I understand. Yeah.
Yes. He was over at my house with his lovely wife, Andrea, last night at a fundraiser we had.
Yeah
any confrontation with a friend.
That's what I kind of suspected. I have a feeling that others are looking again, too, because he's making the same mistakes he did before.
Listen, the man has, along with somebody else by the name of Adelson, changed the face of Las Vegas.
Yes. Definitely.
He has also. Thank you. He's also helped to change the face of Macau. You can't say that the man is not a very good operator. He's a very good operator. I tell you the truth, I keep telling Steve that Las Vegas could be significantly rejuvenated. All he had to do was develop one more property. He can do a better job than I can at creating a mystique about his properties, and he pre-promotes them extensively.
Yeah.
He could bring Las Vegas back to where it was before.
Yeah
By developing another property.
Well, what I was concerned with is, because I was also a large Wynn, and I say was a large Wynn stockholder.
The stock seems to be somewhat manipulated. That's just an opinion.
His stock or our stock?
His stock.
We don't know.
It's when you.
We have enough to do watching our own stock.
Yeah.
We don't have to watch his.
Yeah, when you drop $100 a share, you get real concerned.
Well, he's got one-eighth the number of shares outstanding. You're not comparing apples to apples.
Right.
You're comparing apples to rice. It's completely different.
I think I'll stay with LVS.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My name is Henry Kronberg. I live in Las Vegas. I'm a stockholder. As long as you're talking about Mr. Wynn, I like to have your opinion, because Mr. Wynn recently expressed a very pessimistic outlook of Las Vegas economy. May I ask you, kindly, express your opinion?
We disagree with him on that issue. We don't see what analysts have lately been calling a V-shaped recovery, that at one point the drop is going to stop and immediately go straight up. It'll be sort of a U-shaped recovery, and that's what we're experiencing. We are not pessimistic about Las Vegas.
That's what I like to hear. Thank you.
Sir.
Good afternoon. My name is Tom McCarthy, shareholder. I just have a question that's not quite as deep as the previous ones. We've got a piece of unfinished business in the front of the hotel with that construction. Any idea as far as completion on that or what's going to happen with that?
You mean the tower? The skeleton.
Yes.
At this point, a few options, but nothing concrete to talk about, no.
Okay.
Yeah. Still a possibility. Some interesting things have come up recently, but nothing we want to talk about today.
Okay. Thank you.
Thanks. Sir.
Afternoon.
Hi.
My name is Steve Case. I'm a stockholder, and I'm wondering about the reduction over in China of 22 million visitors, and if that's going to be lifted soon, and then how is that going to affect the organization over there?
You mean the cap, not the reduction?
Yeah, the cap.
Yeah.
On the visitors.
That's a proposed cap. There is no cap at this point. That was one person's comment that perhaps should be considered, but that hasn't actually occurred.
Oh, it hasn't.
There is no cap right now.
Okay. Yeah.
We're hoping there isn't.
Okay.
Right now, it's not in play.
I hope so, too.
Sheldon Adelson has last trip over there, and I sense, hopefully, it's not going to happen. It'd be bad for all of us.
Yeah. Well, you guys have been doing a great job.
Thank you.
I thank you for it. If I could ask one other question.
Nope, that's it. One question. Please, I'm just kidding. Please.
We only kid.
I don't know if you can even speak about this one, but it's about Jacobs, and I just wonder if you have any comment on Jacobs. That's all.
We don't like him.
Well, thank you, Mr. Adelson.
I've said it a thousand times before. When the smoke about Jacobs is cleared, there won't be any fire underneath it.
That's what I thought.
I guarantee that.
Thank you very much.
Any other questions? Please.
That's it.
One more. Sure.
I would just like to make a statement. I just think your support of Israel has been fantastic. Thank you.
You're welcome. We feel the same way. As you know, my wife was born and raised in Israel.
I did not know that.
You didn't know that?
No.
Born and raised. We publish Israel's leading newspaper called "Israel Hayom" in English, in Hebrew, which is "Yisrael Hayom." Hayom means today in Hebrew. We have a home there. We have a lot of relatives, my wife's relatives. As a matter of fact, our older boy, 18 years old, that just graduated high school last week, he's over there right now with 24 of his classmates. We have a big interest in Israel.
I'd like to know your comments, what you thought of David Axelrod's comment concerning the first Jewish president, AKA Barack Obama.
The first Jewish president. When is he coming?
He said Barack-
It was all going so well.
David Axelrod said that.
Yeah.
What do I think of David Axelrod? Not much. Pardon me?
David Axelrod is a shtickel dick.
A shtickel dick, right. You're right about that. That means a piece of garbage. Yeah.
Oh, well.
You're being very kind.
Any other questions? If not, well, we thank you for your time, for your interest, and your support of our company, and bid you a good day. Thank you.