GGRAsia – Caesars strikes deal to delay CEO exit to end-April

Caesars strikes deal to delay CEO exit to end-April

Dec 26, 2018 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, Top of the deck, World

U.S.-based casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp says it has negotiated a delay to the departure date of its outgoing chief executive, Mark Frissora (pictured).

Caesars Entertainment, which is building a casino project in South Korea and is also pursuing a licence in the newly-liberalised Japan market, said Mr Frissora would now stay until at least April 30, 2019 – possibly up to a month more than that – in the interests of “continuity of leadership as the company searches for a successor” using a “third-party search firm” it had hired.

In return for staying on past the February 8 departure date announced in November, Mr Frissora would receive an “equity grant for the 2019 compensation year with a target value of US$7 million” measured on a pro rata basis, said the casino group. The lump-sum figure featured in the group’s 2019 performance incentive plan covering senior officers.

“Any tranches of the 2019 performance incentive plan award that are payable based on performance will remain outstanding until the applicable performance is determined and any amount payable to Mr Frissora will be pro-rated based on the number of days in 2019 that have elapsed through the termination date,” stated Friday’s filing.

According to a proxy filing by the firm on April 10, Mr Frissora’s 2017 base salary was US$2 million, with the potential to be topped up by as much as 175 percent, for performance-related reasons including meeting “financial and customer satisfaction targets” set by the group’s compensation committee. In February, the company had approved an increase to Mr Frissora’s annual bonus target to 200 percent.

In 2017, according to the April proxy filing, Mr Frissora’s received a bonus under the company’s non-equity incentive plan of just over US$4.49 million.

Mr Frissora was named president and CEO of Caesars Entertainment in July 2015, helping to guide the Las Vegas-based casino operator through a lengthy bankruptcy reorganisation, completed in 2017.