Golden Nugget owner Fertitta on furloughs: You have to save the ship to save everybody

Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta has defended his decision to furlough thousands of employees in an interview with Texas Monthly.

Fertitta furloughed 40,000 employees including many at his five Golden Nugget casinos across four states. 

Fertitta told Texas Monthly: “Do you think it’s better to furlough people for a few weeks, hopefully, or for us to be out of business in two months? One thing I make is good business decisions. You have to save the ship to save everybody.”

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Golden Nugget’s credit rating from B2 to B3 earlier in the week. 

Fertitta said he wouldn’t dip into his own net worth to pay employees. 

He told Texas Monthly: “Two billion dollars of my net worth is in the Rockets, 1.5 to 2 billion is in Landry’s and the Golden Nugget. And then I have a billion in other assets, from stocks to real estate to homes to everything else. But you can’t go spend that right now. Why are Marriott and all these companies laying all these people off? Because you pay yesterday’s bills with today’s money.”

Ezra Amacher

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