MGM Resorts admits cyberattack cost $100M in lost profits
Newport Casino was created in 1880. On Thursday Casino said the binding debt deal was reached with the consortium led by Kretinsky’s company EPGC alongside Casino’s biggest creditor Attestor, its second-biggest shareholder Fimalac and the retailer’s secured creditors. After the attack last month, videos posted from MGM properties on the Las Vegas Strip, including ARIA and Bellagio, showed painfully long check-in lines, and some slot machines that were knocked offline.
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Thursday’s announcement finalises a July agreement in principle which called for 1.2 billion euros ($1.26 billion) of new money to be injected into Casino, as well as a reduction of Casino’s debt by 6.1 billion euros. The retailer, which is now France’s sixth-largest supermarket group, said it planned to pursue discussions with the financial creditors not yet party to the lock-up agreement to get them to sign up to it too.
Footfall in Casino supermarkets was up 4% over the past four weeks, the company said. Casino’s Chief Financial Officer David Lubek said price cuts were bringing more customers into the retailer’s stores. That’s in contrast to Caesars Entertainment, which suffered no public disruptions after reportedly paying about $15 million to hackers in a breach last month, believed to have been carried out by the same Russia-linked ransomware gang that struck MGM.
Still, many companies quietly meet ransom demands to avoid business disruptions and negative headlines. The FBI strongly advises against paying ransoms to hackers, warning that bowing to the demands only encourages further attacks. The deal massively dilutes shareholders and will bring to an end the 30-year reign of 74-year-old Naouri, who controls Casino through his listed holding company Rallye. Casino will formally change hands at the end of March next year.
The company made the disclosure in a regulatory filing on Thursday evening, nearly a month after hackers caused massive disruptions that froze online booking systems, knocked slot machines offline, and even disabled digital locks on hotel room doors. Naouri said the binding agreement “creates a favourable framework” for the long-term sustainability of Casino’s business, maintaining its workforce and head offices and continuing to develop its brands.
A self-professed lover of France, Kretinsky is also in talks to become the biggest shareholder in French IT consulting firm Atos, developing a portfolio of assets in the country after a string of investments in Britain with soccer club West Ham, retailer Sainsbury’s, and Royal Mail. For those who haven’t previously indulged in the classic from Dahl, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar tells a tale of a spoilt child, Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch), who comes from a wealthy family.
