Jay-Z, Magic Johnson And Now Sam Nazarian

Sam Nazarian SLS Las Vegas Sahara Photo — Sam Nazarian

At a licensing hearing for SLS Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago it was noted that Sam Nazarian’s SBE only owns 10% of the hotel opening this week.

Stockbridge owns 90 percent of the SLS Las Vegas while SBE Entertainment owns the remaining 10 percent but does not have any voting rights.

This surprised and confused many people as Sam Nazarian has been touted for “Shaking Up Las Vegas” since SLS Las Vegas was announced.

In just three months, on August 23, Life will open as the centerpiece of Nazarian’s new SLS Hotel and Casino. It’s where rowdy bachelorettes and drunk conventioneers will buy $1,000 bottles of champagne while aerialists perform overhead.

Yes, SLS Las Vegas is being touted as Sam Nazarian’s hotel despite his company’s small ownership stake. As I’m writing this there’s a hearing for SLS Las Vegas’ gaming license where it was clarified that SBE/Nazarian “work for Stockbridge” and that technically Rob Oseland will really be running the ship day to day at SLS Las Vegas..

Oseland will be responsible for all SBE operations; the non-gaming businesses #lvrj

— Howard Stutz (@howardstutz) August 21, 2014

Sam Nazarian is a figurehead and spokesperson. He’s the famous name that SLS Las Vegas can use to market itself. In today’s media landscape this small ownership stake by a spokesperson should come as no surprise to anyone.

Jay-Z owned less than 1% of the Brooklyn Nets when he was called an owner. Magic Johnson owns the Los Angeles Dodgers but owns less than 3% of the team.

Even though calling these people “owners” seems like false representation it isn’t. They are “owners” hired as spokespeople. Jay-Z (especially) and Magic Johnson bring a cool factor and little more to their businesses interests. This arrangement benefits both parties as it offers something neither would have without each other.

Nazarian and SBE offer almost the same thing to SLS Las Vegas but they actually bring some kind of business portfolio to SLS Las Vegas. That’s probably why they own 10% and not less than 3% of the business.

Photo: Review Journal