US casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson passes away
Adelson built the largest casino company in the world and used his wealth to support Republican candidates and groups
Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson passed away aged 87 on Tuesday.
Adelson built the largest casino company in the world and used his wealth to support Republican candidates and groups, reports Bloomberg.
Sheldon Adelson died Monday night from complications related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Las Vegas Sands Corp. said in a statement Tuesday.
Adelson took a leave of absence earlier this month to continue treatment for the disease.
A Boston cabdriver's son, Adelson made his first fortune in trade shows, founding what would become the computer industry's largest event, Comdex, and selling it to Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. for about $800 million in 1995.
He plowed the profits into casinos, first in Las Vegas and then in Asia where he helped turn the former Portuguese colony of Macau into the world's biggest gambling market.
Adelson's wealth was derived mostly from his majority stake in Las Vegas Sands, which he founded. The company, with revenue of $13.7 billion in 2019, operates a convention center and casinos in Las Vegas along with gambling resorts in Macau and Singapore. Adelson, who was chairman and chief executive officer, controlled more than half of the company's shares.
His net worth was about $33 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.