Thursday, February 21, 2013

Wynn Resorts Board Member Moves On

This afternoon,�Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN  ) announced that Kazou Okada, one of its nine board members, has tendered his resignation. Just weeks ago, the company announced that allegations which Okada brought against the company, pertaining to what he called "improper donations" to the University of Macau, were found to be "unfounded" by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. At that time, the U.S. District court of Nevada granted Wynn a motion to dismiss a lawsuit pending against the company, which also stemmed from the donation. In conjunction to these issues, Wynn had decided to hold a special meeting of shareholders on February 22�to vote on removing Kazuo Okada from the company's board of directors�.

Since then, Okada has attempted to block the vote, but the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada dismissed the motion, laying the way for the vote scheduled for tomorrow�. Wynn Resorts will still hold the meeting, but after today's announcement, the meeting will likely be just for the formalities.

Okada's decision to resign prior to the meeting was presumably due to the fact that preliminary results showed 99.7% of the shares which had been voted desired Okada's removal. The overwhelming support against Okada was surely due to the fact that other board members had deemed him unsuitable, after a former FBI Director found evidence of improper conduct under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by Kazuo and his affiliates. Additionally, the Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm, recommended shareholders vote to remove Okada. �

In the announcement, Steve Wynn, the company's Chairman and CEO, thanked shareholders for their support in removing Okada, and expressed his confidence in the company's pursuit of its growth strategy and future prospects. �

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