After last week failing to get American casino operator Wynn Resorts Limited to reopen the nominating window for new board members, Elaine Wynn (pictured) is now reportedly urging fellow shareholders to help her oust long-time company director John Hagenbuch.
According to a Monday report from the Bloomberg news service, 75-year-old Wynn is attempting to remake the image of the casino firm she helped to establish with her former husband, Steve Wynn, in the wake of his early-February resignation as its Chief Executive Officer amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
In a letter to shareholders, she reportedly explained that Hagenbuch is a legacy director that would hinder efforts to create a ‘new Wynn’ before filing proxy materials to block the 65-year-old’s re-election as a director at the firm’s next annual general meeting on May 16.
“We need a new era at Wynn Resorts [Limited],” reportedly read the letter from Wynn, who is the largest shareholder in the Las Vegas-based firm with a 9.25% stake. “Although the board recently unilaterally appointed three new directors and indicated its intention to add more new directors in the coming months, I do not believe these steps go far enough toward changing ‘business as usual’ in [the Wynn Resorts Limited] boardroom.”
Bloomberg reported that the letter from New York-born Wynn moreover described Hagenbuch as a ‘long-time close friend of Mr Wynn’ before declaring that she does not believe that the company should sell its under-construction Wynn Boston Harbor property in Massachusetts until the current board is reconstituted.
“Several long-standing legacy directors still wield significant influence at the company,” reportedly read the letter from Wynn, who purportedly netted $25 million earlier this month after settling a long-running lawsuit against her ex-husband. “This is especially true of Mr Hagenbuch, who serves on the special committee responsible for overseeing the investigation into allegations of Mr Wynn’s sexual harassment and on the compensation committee.”