What is Elaine Wynn's Net Worth?
Elaine Wynn is an American businesswoman who has a net worth of $2 billion. Elaine Wynn earned her fortune as the former wife of Steve Wynn, founder of Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts. With her ex-husband, she aided in the expansion of the Las Vegas Strip. Wynn is also substantially involved in philanthropic endeavors, and is an avid collector of art.
Steve Wynn Divorce Settlement And Stock
Elaine received eleven million shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited when the couple divorced in 2010. It was actually their SECOND time divorcing. Her 11 million shares were equal to roughly 10% of the company. Steve kept another 11 million shares. Part of the settlement required that Elaine agree to not ever sell her shares so that Steve would not have to worry about such a large stake being bought up by a rival. For income, Elaine would live off the companies annual 3% dividend which typically resulted in a $60 million annual payment. According to rumor, in 2014 Elaine asked Steve for permission to sell a large chunk of her shares in order to put forth a bid to buy the LA Clippers which had been up for sale in the wake of Donald Sterling's controversies. Steve reportedly denied her request. Furious, Elaine proceeded to sue Wynn resorts claiming that the company spent decades covering up Steve's sexual harassment allegations. She was ultimately successful and Wynn was ousted from his own company and forced to sell his entire stake. That left Elaine as the company's largest individual shareholder. A position she still controls today.
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Early Life and Education
Elaine Wynn was born as Elaine Pascal on April 28, 1942 in New York City into a Jewish family. For her higher education, she attended George Washington University, from which she graduated in 1964 with her bachelor's degree in political science.
Business Career
In 1973, Wynn's husband Steve, a real estate developer, acquired majority control of the Golden Nugget Las Vegas hotel and casino. He subsequently formed Golden Nugget Companies, which later became rebranded Mirage Resorts after the opening of the Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip in late 1989. On the Strip, Steve went on to build the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino and the Bellagio. With her husband, Elaine Wynn played an integral role in the resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip throughout the 1990s. In 2000, Mirage Resorts was acquired by MGM Grand, creating MGM Mirage.
In 2002, Wynn's husband founded Wynn Resorts, a developer and operator of luxury hotels and casinos based in Paradise, Nevada. The company opened the Wynn Las Vegas in 2005 and the Encore Las Vegas in 2008. It also has properties in Massachusetts and Macau. In early 2018, Steve Wynn resigned as the company's CEO following multiple sexual assault allegations against him. He subsequently sold his 12% share of the company and returned voting rights to Elaine, who had signed the rights away in their 2010 divorce agreement. Elaine Wynn stands as the company's largest shareholder, with a 9% stake valued at around $2 billion.
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Philanthropy
Wynn is substantially involved in philanthropic activities. She serves on the board of trustees of her Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation, and previously served as the chair of the UNLV Foundation, a fundraising group for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Wynn also serves on the national board of directors of Communities in Schools, a non-profit organization that assists at-risk students. In 2011, she was appointed to Nevada's Blue Ribbon Education Reform Task Force, and in 2013 and 2015 served on Nevada's State Board of Education. Wynn also supports the arts, having been appointed to the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President Obama in 2011. Elsewhere, she serves as the co-chair of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Art Collection
Wynn is an avid art collector who has pieces from a range of famous artists. In 2013, she purchased Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" for around $142 million, and loaned it to the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.
Personal Life
Wynn married her husband Steve in 1963. They divorced for the first time in 1986, and remarried in 1991. The couple divorced a second time in 2010. During their marriage, the Wynns had two daughters named Kevyn and Gillian. In 1993, Kevyn was kidnapped and held for ransom; she was released unharmed when her father paid the kidnappers $1.45 million. The kidnappers were ultimately apprehended when one tried to buy a Ferrari with cash in Newport Beach, California.
Wynn lives in a mansion in the Southern Highlands Golf Club neighborhood in the Las Vegas Valley. One of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, its average home price is over $4 million.
