Melco Resorts and Entertainment’s founder, chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho has dropped off Hong Kong’s 50 Richest list, a ranking of billionaires published annually by Forbes. Ho, 47, is the oldest son of Macao’s late gaming pioneer, Stanley Ho.
The younger Ho had graced Forbes’ list for 10 years prior to its 2024 edition, the media outlet reported. While Forbes’ profile on the businessman states he is worth US$1.2 billion – more than the bottom two people on the rich list – another article explained that the April 2023 figure was out of date.
It said shares in Ho’s biggest asset, Melco, had roughly halved in value over the past year – impacting its boss’ net worth.
Forbes said that Beijing’s crackdown on VIP junkets, once the biggest earner for Macao’s casinos, was hurting the concessionaires’ bottom lines. Melco and the city’s five other gaming operators are working to reduce their dependance on high rollers as well as invest heavily in non-gaming ventures, a requirement of their latest contracts with the government.
[See more: Why have Macao’s gaming stocks fallen?]
A local gaming expert has told media he believes China’s economic slowdown was also a factor in casinos’ falling share prices.
Melco’s latest regulatory filing showed it earned US$1.02 billion in operating revenues in the third quarter of 2023, a 7.4 percent quarterly increase. Melco operates the City of Dreams and Studio City integrated resorts, among others.
The company’s properties have been undergoing a US$1.3 billion expansion programme, parts of which included a new 557-room hotel on the Cotai Strip (W Macau Studio City), the 338-suite Epic Tower and a water park – all opened last year.
Ho also has a private investment firm, Black Spade Capital. Earlier this month, it teamed up with the owner of prominent Hong Kong nightclub Dragon-i to establish a new high-end entertainment company. Last year, Black Spade merged with Vinfest, an electric vehicle maker in Vietnam. Forbes noted that the merger resulted in a US$23 billion listing on Nasdaq.
Macao’s Pansy Ho and Angela Leong also appear on the Forbes list at number 22 and 33 respectively.
