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Wynn Resorts Cancels $3.2B Merger Deal

By  |  November 15, 2021

A deal to spin off the online gaming branch of Wynn Resorts Ltd. into a public company was called off Friday morning by the casino operator,  quashing a merger that would’ve created a $3.2 billion public company.

Wynn Resorts said Friday that its subsidiary Wynn Interactive and blank-check company Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. I mutually agreed to end their merger plans, effective immediately.

The announcement comes three days after Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said he would be departing Jan. 31 with Wynn Interactive CEO Craig Billings taking over Feb. 1.

Wynn did not give a reason for nixing its merger, but the reasoning possibly could be related to issues noted during its third quarter earnings call on changing its approach to online gaming.

“In light of elevated marketing and promotional spend in the sports betting industry, we are pivoting our user acquisition efforts to a more targeted ROI-focused strategy,” Billings said on the earnings call. “In so doing, we expect the capital intensity of the business to decline meaningfully beginning in the first quarter of 2022. WynnBET’s best days lie ahead of us.”

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