What Murren’s meant to Las Vegas

MgM Resorts’ retiring CEO played a huge role in pushing the Strip forward

Jim Murren, center, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, poses with Chuck Bowling, left, president and COO of Mandalay Bay, and Tony Gladney, vice president of community engagement for MGM Resorts, during a news conference at Mandalay Bay Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020.

When Jim Murren arrived in Las Vegas from Wall Street in 1998 to become chief financial officer of the MGM Grand, the world was a different place.

Social media wasn’t yet a thing, the thought of a pro sports franchise in Las Vegas was almost laughable and MGM had just one property on the Strip.

Over the past two decades, Murren, now chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, has been integral in molding a company that today employs more than 80,000 people worldwide and about 53,000 in Las Vegas.

On February 12, Murren, who took over as MGM’s top executive in 2008, jolted the gaming community by announcing plans to step down. He will continue to serve in his current leadership roles until a successor is appointed, the company said.

“I really feel that after 12 years, especially the last couple of years, we’ve changed the dynamic of this company,” Murren said during an earnings call the same day.

Click to enlarge photo

MGM Mirage Chief Financial Officer Jim Murren gives a keynote speech during the annual Financial Executives Gaming Forum Thursday, May 22, 2003.

“I think the company, honestly, has never been in a better position than it is right now,” he said. “When I thought through how I could best serve MGM going forward, I thought it was pretty clear that a leader should help lead a company into the next decade or two. I wanted to make sure the board had the time to do a robust search to find my successor.”

Here, Las Vegas Weekly highlights some of Murren’s accomplishments with MGM.

CityCenter

Murren was the visionary behind the massive $8.5 billion mixed-use Strip development that features the Aria as its centerpiece.

The 67-acre development took about five years to design and opened in late 2009, while the U.S. economy was mired in a recession.

Along with upscale hotel options—Aria and its Sky Suites Hotel are AAA Five Diamond properties—the development has plenty of restaurant and shopping options.

The property has also received a bump from the Golden Knights NHL franchise, which attracts thousands of fans to nearby T-Mobile Arena for home games.

It is a microcosm for what Murren viewed for the future of MGM—a diversified entertainment company that also specializes in gaming.

Sports

During the 1990s, the idea of a major pro sports franchise coming to Las Vegas was commonly dismissed as a pipe dream, largely because of the city’s focus on gambling.

That has changed in recent years. The Golden Knights started playing here during the 2017-18 NHL season in an arena partly owned by MGM.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has singled out Murren as one of the people most responsible for bringing hockey to Southern Nevada, helping alleviate concerns about the coexistence of pro sports and gambling.

“We began to have a relationship—for other reasons—with MGM, and Jim Murren gets a lot of credit for, at that time, smartening us up,” Bettman said last year.

Murren was also largely responsible for bringing the Las Vegas Aces WNBA franchise—owned by MGM—to Las Vegas from San Antonio in 2017.

And earlier this year, MGM announced a sponsorship deal with the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders that calls for major MGM advertising inside Allegiant Stadium, the team’s home where construction is due to be completed this summer.

Company expansion

When Murren joined MGM in December 1998, the company owned one property on the Strip—and part of New York-New York—and employed about 4,000 workers.

Today, MGM is an international gaming and hospitality powerhouse with more than 80,000 employees and 29 resort properties in Nevada, seven other U.S. states and three continents.

Along with the opening of MGM Springfield in Massachusetts in 2018, Murren led the company’s expansion in Asia with the opening of the MGM Grand Macau in 2007 and the MGM Cotai in 2018. He’s also spearheading continuing efforts to secure a gaming license for a resort in Osaka, Japan.

“We are in prime position to capitalize on our two key long-term growth opportunities—Japan and sports,” Murren said recently. “We’ve made significant progress with our sports betting business, which will support long-term growth for our online and brick-and-mortar businesses.”

Asset-light business strategy

Under Murren’s tenure, MGM has launched an “asset-light” strategy, selling off resort properties then leasing them back and continuing to operate them. It’s a tactic designed to make the company more nimble and keep more available cash on hand.

Last year, MGM sold the Bellagio for more than $4 billion to the Blackstone Group. And just last week, MGM closed a $4.6 billion deal to sell Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand to Blackstone under a similar lease-back arrangement.

“Looking ahead, our path is clear,” Murren said. “We look forward to monetizing our remaining owned real estate assets.”

Corporate and social responsibility

Last year, Murren oversaw the launch of a campaign called Focused on What Matters: Embracing Humanity and Protecting the Planet, a vision for social impact and environmental sustainability.

Murren has also led efforts to establish scholarships and educational opportunities for employees and their families.

In 2013, Corporate Responsibility Magazine named Murren its CEO of the year. And this year, Fortune magazine listed MGM among its most admired companies.

Murren has also been a champion of clean energy and vendor diversity programs.

In 2017, he and his wife, Heather Hay Murren, received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, given annually to those who have “demonstrated a profound concern for the common good beyond the bottom line,” according to the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

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