Posted on 12/07/2006 6:48:21 AM PST by presidio9
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is buying the Hard Rock business, including its massive collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, in a $965 million deal with British casino and hotel company Rank Group PLC, the tribe announced Thursday.
The Hard Rock business includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues, and stakes in three unbranded hotels.
With it, the tribe acquires what is said to be the world's largest collection of rock memorabilia, some 70,000 pieces including Jimi Hendrix's Flying V guitar, one of Madonna's bustiers, a pair of Elton John's high-heeled shoes and guitars formerly owned by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Chuck Berry.
"This is a proud moment for the Seminole Tribe of Florida and for all Indian tribes," said Mitchell Cypress, chairman of the elected Tribal Council. "It is also an opportunity for the Seminole Tribe to diversify its business operations and help a very successful company to achieve even greater growth."
Cypress and Seminole Gaming Chief Executive James Allen said in a statement that the tribe would work with current Hard Rock International management to build on existing growth plans.
In addition to its two Seminole Hard Rock hotels & casinos, the Seminole Tribe owns and operates five other casinos in Florida. More than 90 percent of the tribe's budget now comes from gaming revenue.
Nearly 3,300 Seminole Indians live on and off reservations throughout Florida.
The tribe was the first American Indian group to get into the gambling business when it opened a bingo hall in 1979 in Hollywood, Fla. That led to other casinos on reservations in Florida and sparked the interest of other tribes across the nation.
U.S. tribes now have more than $22 billion in annual revenues from gambling, according to government figures.
Peter Morton, co-founder of the Hard Rock brand, sold his interests to Rank Group in 1996 for $410 million. He had retained ownership of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, but sold that to Morgans Hotel Group Co. for $770 million in cash in May.
Rank, which said the sale freed it to concentrate on gambling, retained the Hard Rock Casino in London and plans to change it to the Rank Gaming brand.
"We have maximized the value of Hard Rock through this disposal following a thorough strategic review and competitive auction," said Rank Chief Executive Ian Burke.
Burke said the company would return 350 million pounds ($690 million) of the sale proceeds to shareholders in a special dividend of 65 pence ($1.28) per share.
Last year, Hard Rock posted revenue of 250.1 million pounds ($493 million) and profit before interest and taxes of 34.8 million pounds ($68.6 million), Rank said.
The sale, which is subject to shareholder approval, is scheduled to be completed in March.
Rank shares were down 0.6 percent at 265 pence ($5.22) on the London Stock Exchange.
Rank shares fell 3.8 percent to 256.5 pence ($5.05) on the London Stock Exchange.
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I guess we won't be hearing any more from the liberals about how poor and downtrodden the Indians are.
This ought to be a lession for the Iraqis.
"I guess we won't be hearing any more from the liberals about how poor and downtrodden the Indians are."
Believe me, we will still have to hear it.
How?
A quick Google search indicates they have numerous casinos, including several amid populous, high-income parts of Florida.
Sorry, that was a weak Indian joke.
Hard Rock in the last few years bought and refurbed the Indian Casino in Tampa, reports are that it's real nice now , it was abominably bad before the refurb , I guess it's heading downhill again.
This is one tribe. You do realize that there are more than one tribe?
That doesn't cover every tribe in the U.S. Even if it did, then it would still be wrong to assume that they are all wealthy.
I'll post what I always post. Indian tribes are phony sovereign nations with their exclusive gambling rights is un American. It' total bull crap/
That white people tolerate and advocate because of white guilt complex. It's a scam. An Indians only racket
It's a scam for the gaming tribes. Many of whom have little Indian blood but became big on Federal tribal status once there was gambling money to be made
They have built casinos on land that was never tribal land. But was acquired via a land swap. So now it's easy off the highway to the Seminole Casino. I live in FL and read about this
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