The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday approved the licensing of media mogul Barry Diller as a director for the MGM Resorts International board of directors.
In a 4-1 vote — the first for new member Abbi Silver — commissioners agreed to license Diller without restrictions after approving a limited two-year license for him in May 2022.
Two years ago, Diller was recommended for approval by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, but between the time of the Control Board recommendation and final commission approval, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an investigation into insider trading allegations against Diller, his stepson-in-law Alexander von Furstenberg and film studio executive and producer David Geffen.
Diller, appearing at Thursday’s meeting online from New York, said the timing of the purchase of stock in videogame company Activision Blizzard, which later was taken over by Microsoft Corp., was coincidental. He said he, von Furstenberg and Geffen considered Activision to be an undervalued company worthy of their investment.
Diller and his attorneys told the commission there has been no further contact from the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department about an investigation into the stock trades.
“This matter has reached the end of the map,” one of Diller’s attorneys told commissioners.
Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey cast the one vote against Diller’s licensing and she said during the 15-minute hearing that while she had no misgivings about Diller’s character and suitability, she preferred a conditional licensing since the SEC left the possibility of a future investigation open.
The SEC’s email to Diller’s lawyer that Diller authorized be made public says, “must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result from the staff’s investigation.”
Diller is the chairman and senior executive of IAC, a holding company that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and internet, and chairman and senior executive of Expedia Group. He is a former chairman and chief executive officer of several companies, including Fox and Paramount Pictures Corp. Diller also serves on the board of The Coca-Cola Company.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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