Wynn Resorts wants Steve Wynn's ex-wife off the board

May 21, 2024

New York CNNMoney —

Wynn Resorts is trying to kick a namesake off its board.

Elaine Wynn, ex-wife of Steve Wynn – chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) – said she’s reviewing her options after the company’s board said it wouldn’t re-nominate her once her term expires next month. Wynn is a major shareholder who built the company with her ex-husband.

“This news is extraordinarily disappointing, not just because I, as the co-founder of Wynn Resorts, have devoted my life to making this company a success, but because the decision excludes the last woman director from the board,” she said in a statement to CNNMoney.

Wynn owns 9.4% of the company, just behind her ex-husband, who owns 9.9%. She has served as director of the company since October 2002.

“The Nominating Committee will take diversity into account as they evaluate candidates,” said a spokesman for the board.

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The board noted several reasons for the decision in company filings last week. It said there were “concerns over actual or potential conflicts of interest,” as well as her “lack of independence under NASDAQ listing standards,” and also referenced a lawsuit she filed against her ex-husband.

In that suit, she says she wants to be able to sell her shares without restrictions. (Wynn currently has restrictions on her shares due to a stockholder’s agreement that took place during the Wynn’s divorce proceedings.)

Ms. Wynn said in a letter to the board that in the event she is not nominated, she will nominate herself for election as a director at next month’s shareholder meeting, according to filings.

Elaine and Steve Wynn met in college, were married in 1963 and divorced for the first time in 1986. They married again in 1991, only to divorce in 2010. The pair built the casino business together and are self-made billionaires.

According to Forbes, Elaine Wynn has a net worth of $2 billion and her ex-husband is worth $3.2 billion.

The pair has maintained for years that their relationship is amicable. When Steve Wynn was asked about his ex-wife a year after their second divorce, he told the Las Vegas Sun, “She’s my buddy, she’s my best friend. I love her.”

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