Caesars Entertainment Corporation - History - Post William F. Harrah Era - Company Goes Private

Company Goes Private

• October 2, 2006 – The Wall Street Journal reported that private-equity firms would buy Harrah's Entertainment for $15.05 billion in one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. A number of private-equity firms, including Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Global Management were involved in the talks. The company also announced plans to trade 24 acres (9.7 ha) on the Las Vegas Strip for the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino. Following approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), state gaming commissions and by shareholders, the stock (NYSE HET) was delisted on January 28, 2008 and the company was taken private by Hamlet Holdings.

• December 2006 – Harrah's acquired London Clubs International for $568 million. Harrah's announced Casino Windsor would be renamed as Caesars Windsor and would receive multiple upgrades to the physical premises.

• February 2007 - Barbary Coast (the 7th casino in Las Vegas) is acquired in a land swap with Boyd Gaming and is renamed Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon, named after company founder Bill Harrah. The new casino is very small, but provides another piece of contiguous land for future development in Las Vegas.

• November 2007 - Harrah's acquired the Orient Golf Club on the Cotai Strip in Macau for approximately US$580M. The land area is roughly 180 acres (0.73 km2).

• January 2008 - Harrah's assumes $20 billion in debt when private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Texas Pacific Group acquired the company.

• April 9, 2008 – Harrah's Entertainment's board of directors approved a corporate name change to Caesars Entertainment Corporation. This change will capitalize on the international name recognition enjoyed on the Caesars name brand. The Harrah's brand remains one of the company's three primary casino brands.

• December 1, 2009 - Harrah's filed applications with Nevada gaming regulators seeking approval to acquire the Planet Hollywood Casino which is next to their Las Vegas properties. This acquisition will be their 8th casino in Las Vegas. Harrah's assembled all of its existing Las Vegas properties, by purchasing existing resorts beginning in April 1992. It was widely announced in previous years that the company planned to implode properties and build new ones from scratch, but after the market downturn the company conceded that it had little experience in building major resorts. Instead it developed Project Linq in 2009, which calls for retaining and improving all existing buildings while adding a collection of about 20 restaurants and bars to be built along a winding corridor between the company's O'Sheas and Flamingo casinos, on the east side of the Strip. It is an attempt to create the kind of entertainment district that has developed organically in cities such as Los Angeles, Memphis and New Orleans yet is lacking on the Strip, with its enclosed, casino-centric zones. If this new zone is successful it will provide competition for the Fremont Street Experience.

The acquisition of Planet Hollywood will provide Harrah's with a contiguous 126-acre (0.51 km2) property bordering the strip. The vacant lots behind the casinos had been slated for a sports arena large enough to hold a professional basketball or hockey team. The three casinos will have over 8000 rooms which can be directly connected to the arena.

• February 19, 2010, Harrah's Entertainment acquires Planet Hollywood Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• It was announced in August 2010 that Harrah's will run casinos in Cincinnati, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio when they open in 2012.