Internal Documents Confirm Mirage Sale Rumors

By Scott Roeben, on November 03 2021
2 min read 8 comments
Las Vegas

MGM Resorts is communicating to its employees the Mirage resort is being sold.

According to an internal memo from Nik Rytterstrom, President & COO of The Mirage, the sale of the resort’s operations will be announced today, Nov. 3, 2021.

The Rytterstrom message starts with, “MGM Resorts is announcing today that it intends to sell the operations of The Mirage to another operator.”

Boom.

The document included a Q&A addressing employees questions and concerns related to the sale.

The Q&A leads off with “Do I still have a job?” The answer: “Yes. It is business as usual during this process and we ask that you continue to focus on your responsibilities and our guests.”

“Dear colleagues, please don’t freak out yet.”

The communication provided no further information about who the buyer of Mirage’s operations will be, or if the deal will include the land. It doesn’t appear so.

The Mirage’s real estate is currently owned by MGM Growth Properties, a REIT (real estate investment trust).

Vici Properties, a spin-off of Caesars Entertainment (the main competitor of MGM Resorts), is acquiring MGM Growth (the deal will close in the first half of 2022), so Vici will own the land beneath Mirage when that acquisition is finalized.

Yes, it’s all a little incestuous, don’t make it awkward.

Mirage volcano
You might call it a fire sale.

It’s increasingly common in Las Vegas for REITs to own the land while another company, often MGM Resorts, operates the casino.

Cosmopolitan, for example, recently sold its operations to MGM Resorts, while the real estate is owned by the former owner, Blackstone. Read more.

Another document was distributed by Bill Hornbuckle, CEO & President of MGM Resorts International.

Confirmed AF.

Look for more details about the sale of Mirage following the official announcement.