Elaine Wynn Wants To Know Where Institutional Shareholder Services Gets Off
The Wynns!
In 1967, Steve Wynn and his bride Elaine moved to Las Vegas, where they invested their profits from his family's bingo operation in the charmingly named Golden Nugget, changed almost everything about the place, and made a name for themselves by classing up downtown Vegas. The Mirage, Treasure Island, the Bellagio, and Wynn Resorts came after that, as did a divorce, remarriage, and second divorce for the Wynns. Unlike many an uncoupled couple, the Wynns maintained an amicable relationship, with Elaine keeping her board seat as well as a sizable percentage of the company. Sure, there were bumps along the way-- for instance, Lady Wynn sued her ex-husband in 2012 (a year after he picked up a new wife) over certain restrictions on selling her shares-- but all in all, the two seemed to get along a lot better than, say, Steve and Patricia Cohen, or Ken and Anne Dias-Griffin.
Things took a turn for the "Rot in hell a**hole," however, when the Wynn directors decided earlier this year they want Elaine off the board, forcing her to nominate herself, running on the platform that "These guys don’t know a Manolo Blahnik from a...flip flop" and that she's the only one willing to stand up to Steve. Elaine will find out her fate on April 24 (the day of the company's annual meeting), but ahead of time proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services has decided to wade into matters of post-marital discord, sticking its nose where Elaine Wynn is pretty sure it doesn't belong.
Steve and Elaine 2.0
The report recommended investors protest “manifest failures” of corporate governance at Wynn by boycotting the election and withholding support from both Ms. Wynn and the company’s nominees. “I don’t know how they get self-anointed…or where they get their aura of invincibility,” Ms. Wynn said in a Saturday interview, dismissing issues raised by ISS.
And ISS isn't the only one Elaine Wynn has a right mind to mind its own god damn business.
On Monday, Ms. Wynn’s campaign got more bad news when a report by Glass, Lewis & Co.—a smaller but still influential proxy-advisory firm—recommended investors vote for Wynn Resorts’ board candidates, John J. Hagenbuch and J. Edward Virtue, instead of for Ms. Wynn. The firm said it agreed with the casino operator’s point that a lawsuit Ms. Wynn filed against Mr. Wynn created a conflict of interest. “Glass Lewis got it wrong,” Ms. Wynn said in a written statement Monday, reiterating her call for investors to vote for her given the experience and diversity she brings to the board and the fact that she is a major shareholder.
As the woman who brought class to the Strip, Elaine isn't going to stoop to the proxy firms' levels. But if she was going to, she'd remind them that she doesn't come down to their offices and slap the d*cks out of their mouths.
