steve wynn

From the WSJ:
--Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey has bought a hacienda-style home in Los Angeles for $18.5 million. The six-bedroom home, which was lived in by Frank Sinatra's ex-wife Nancy Barbato was listed at $22.5 million when we first checked it out back in September. Grey, a Sinatra fan, recently sold his Pacific Palisades home for $21.5 million. His new home needs a bit of updating.

--The Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade has bought a Miami Beach home for $10.6 million. The six-bedroom Mediterranean-style house has 150-plus feet of bay frontage and a tennis court that he's planning to convert to a basketball court.
--The former Beverly Hills home of late television sidekick Ed McMahon was foreclosed on by Dan Schryer, of DCI Technology Holdings, the investor who purchased Mr. McMahon's underlying loan from Countrywide Financial. It had been listed earlier this year for $4.6 million. Schryer bought the home's mortgage in 2009, allowing Mr.McMahon and his wife to remain in the home. Hee decided to foreclose on the home now so he could put it on the market again early next year.


From the NY Post:
--Halle Berry has shown interest in a three-bedroom unit at the Park Imperial building at 230 W. 56th St., the Sean "Diddy" Combs, Deepak Chopra and Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order" all call home.
--Two Trees Farm in Bridgehampton has had a major price cut. The 115-acre property was once $95 million but is now listed for $55 million, which includes development rights. Or you can buy 73 acres without development rights for $20 million.
--A home used in the movie "The Godfather," is up for sale for $2.9 million.
--Chef Marc Murphy has been spotted checking out apartments in the new 535 West End Ave. condo building.
--The buyer of Elie and Rory Tahari's 141 Prince St. triplex is Ted Waitt, the billionaire founder of computer maker Gateway who paid $27.5 million.
-- Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have settled in at 88 Central Park West in an apartment with a 32-foot living room and eight bedrooms. It was most recently listed at $21.5 million.

From CNBC:
--Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's former rental home in Palo Alto, California is listed for $7,850 a month.

From Newsday:
--Former tennis player Ruta Gerulaitis has sold her Centre Island home for $1.965 million.
--Ogden Phipps II and wife, Ashley, have sold their Glen Cove home for $2.25 million, $100,000 less than they paid for the home in 2007. Phipps is the great-great grandson of Henry Phipps, who made his fortune as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie's business partner.


From the LA Times:
--Lisa Marie Presley has sold a ranch-style house in gated Hidden Hills for $5 million.
--Advertising pro Lee Clow, co-creator of Apple's "Think Different" campaign, has purchased a vacation home at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes for $2.2 million.
--Television host and singer Mark McGrath has sold his home in the Hollywood Hills for above its asking price of $1.25 million.
--The personal residence and studio of the late photographer Julius Shulman has sold for $2.25 million in the Hollywood Hills.

From the NY Times:
--A "double-height artist studio" with many original Charles Platt touches has recently gone on the market in the building, at 131 East 66th Street, known as the Studio Building. The listing is here.

The striking image shown above is a new painting by the American Pop-artist James Rosenquist, commissioned by Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. The painting is entitled "Cervello Spazio Cosmico," which means "brain space" in Italian. The painting combines images of a X-ray-like skull and brain with a sky filled with cosmic space and a background of lush flowers.

The massive oil-on-canvas painting, which is 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, will be displayed in the Keep Memory Alive Event Center. The center was designed by Frank Gehry in his usual gleaming, spirited style. The painting will be officially unveiled in its new home at an invitation-only evening event this weekend at the Center. Chef and restaurateur Joel Robuchon, together with Alex Stratta and Paul Bartolotta will prepare a special meal for guests. Rosenquist will be in attendance to share insight into his work, which was made possible by a generous gift from Steve Wynn. The Cleveland Clinic's impressive art collection totals more than 4,000 pieces.

"We're so proud that the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health calls Las Vegas home, and I'm thrilled to be able to support its mission with this gift," said Steve Wynn. "I believe in the wonderful work happening there and in my dear friend Larry Ruvo's vision for eradicating the disease that took his father, Lou."

The Roy Lichtenstein 1964 painting "Ohhh...Alright..." was sold at Christie's auction of postwar and contemporary art on November 10 for a whopping $38 million or $42.6 million including Christie's fees (watch video of the moment here). The painting topped even a Warhol soup can and opener which fetched $23.9 million, considerably less than the $30-$50 million estimate. Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn was the seller. The buyer was an anonymous bidder on the phone. There was only this single bidder who had made a contractual agreement with the auction house before the sale.

The comic-book inspired image of a flaming redhead clutching a phone to her ear with a puzzling speech bubble is one of a group of dream-girls painted between 1961-1965 in Lichtenstein's signature Ben-Day dots. Some pundits claim collectors want instantly recognizable images. Another view is that the painter's iconic images are "safe" and rare, while Warhols seem to pop up on a regular basis. In any case, unlike the US economy, the contemporary art market appears to have regained its health.

From the NY Observer:
--The new owner of Steve Wynn's Fifth Avenue condo is the ex Mrs. Wynn. Elaine Wynn took over control of the home, which was listed for $25 million in 2009, for $17.155 million. This summer the Wall Street Journal reported that Wynn is buying a four-bedroom duplex condominium at the Plaza for around $23 million.
--Robert Kaliner, a developer, and his wife Jodi have bought an apartment at The Grand Madison at 225 Fifth Avenue.
--Richard Khawam, a director at Wachovia, and his wife Angela have cashed in their Soho apartment at 15 Mercer Street for $3.7 million.
--Charlie Palmer, the acclaimed chef, has sold his five-story townhouse at 34 East 61st Street for $10 million.
--Sangyeup Lee, the designer who brought the Camaro back to life, and his wife, Soonhyun Kwon bought a river-facing unit at Extell's Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard for $2.59 million.
--Philip J. Purcell IV, known as "Boo" and son of the former Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley boss whose name he shares, has just bought an apartment with his wife, Stephanie, at the colorful, SOM-designed 101 Warren in southern Tribeca for $2.93 million according to city records.
--Advertising exec and television host Donny Deutsch sold his two Tyson Lane lots off East Hampton's Further Lane for around $29 million total.


From the NY Post:
--Dixie Chicks lead singer and her husband, former "Heroes" actor Adrian Pasdar, are buying a four-bedroom home at 525 W. 22nd St. for just more than $4.3 million.
--Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Michael Lorber is set to star in Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing." Warburg Realty will be the newest addition to HGTV's "Selling New York" when new episodes premiere in January.
--Glenn Beck has settled into one of the city's fanciest East Side buildings, where multiple condos are on the market for upwards of $3,000 per square foot and two-bedroom rentals can run more than $10,000.
--Mimi Dalva has decided to put her 12-room maisonette at 320 E. 72nd St. on the market for $7.95 million. The listing for the six-bedroom co-op is here.


From the Real Estalker:
Jeff Lewis of "Flipping Out" has, after a few price cuts, finally sold his personal residence in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles for $2.325 million.
--Basketball superstar Tony Parker, the husband of Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker, has bought a condo in the Du Parc Kempinski Private Residences in Switzerland. Check out more details about this property in a review we did earlier this year.
--Tiger Wood's ex-wife Elin recently toured a penthouse apartment at the 16-unit Claridge condo tower in Tequesta, Florida.

From Chicago Breaking Sports:
--Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly has just listed his six-bedroom, nearly 5,500-square-foot mansion just west of Wrigley Field for $2.4 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Derivatives pioneer Howard Sosin, who founded AIG's financial products unit in 1987, has bought a home in Palm Beach, Florida for $5.05 million. He plans to use the six-bedroom house as a winter home for himself and his family.
--Former Bear Stearns CEO Alan D. Schwartz in February sold his six-bedroom home in Purchase, N.Y., for $3.28 million.
--William P. Foley II, founder and chairman of title insurer Fidelity National Financial Inc., and his wife, Carol, have sold their roughly eight-acre, oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara, Calif., for $18.44 million. In Feburary the Foleys were asking $28.5 million and the most recent asking price was $23.5 million. Foley says he plans to spend time in Northern California, where he owns several wineries.

From Curbed LA:
--Dennis Hopper's Venice, California compound has had a price cut down to $4.799 million. It started at $6.245 million back in July when the listing went live.

Casino king Steve Wynn is doing a little high-profile buying in New York City. Josh Barbanel of the Wall Street Journal reports that Wynn has picked up a four-bedroom duplex condominium with a private elevator and a 24-foot-long terrace facing Central Park. The deal closed for around $23 million, slightly shy of the $24 million asking price. The WSJ article says that Wynn also bought all of the furnishings in the unit. It had been filled with custom-made Italian furniture built by Giorgetti by architect Gal Nauer who was responsible for the redesign of the Plaza's interior space. The nine-room apartment on the 20th floor of the Plaza has a circular staircase and a rooftop extension with a terrace facing Central Park. There is also a 27-foot-wide living room facing the park.

This penthouse has been a matter of some dispute. In 2007, the first prospective buyers of the apartment signed a contract to pay $31 million for the penthouse but when they toured the apartment in 2008 they were not pleased and filed court papers suing for their $6.2 million deposit. Court papers from that case disparaged the design of the unit referring to it as a "warren of dimly-lit and cheaply furnished rooms." A state judge dismissed the lawsuit last fall but the deposit is still in escrow pending appeal. "Unsold and unsellable" said a complaint filed in March and yet here we are in July and it is in fact sold. Should the owner, El-Ad Properties, manage to keep the $6.2 million deposit and Wynn's money, it would have pretty close to the amount of the original 2007 deal.

Wynn, who also owns homes in Sun Valley, Idaho and Las Vegas. He previously owned a unit at 820 Fifth Avenue which hit the market last year for $25 million.

Casino mogul Steve Wynn is such a believer in the strength of the Chinese gambling hub of Macau that he said, while promoting the launch of Encore Macau, that he is planning a third major casino there and will consider relocating the Las Vegas headquarters of Wynn Resorts to Macau.

Encore is adjacent to sister resort Wynn Macau and has 414 suites and villas. Encore introduces two new restaurants to the Wynn dining family plus Bar Cristal, the elegant lobby bar. The Spa at Encore offers treatments in eight private therapy suites, each with its own steam room, sauna and aroma-hydrotherapy bath and shower. The Shopping Esplanade is home to three signature stores, Cartier, Chanel and Piaget, which will offer limited-edition pieces unique to Encore.

Wynn told reporters he plans to start construction next year on a hotel and casino on Cotai, an area that's already home to a casino operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. That hotel and casino complex should be completed before the end of 2013.

A big shocker out of Las Vegas today. Wynn Resorts has announced that they are pulling out of any potential plans to go forward with investing in the Foxwoods Casino project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A statement released by Wynn Resorts quotes Steve Wynn as saying: "We are fascinated by the legalization of full gaming in Pennsylvania and stimulated by the opportunity that it presents for Wynn Resorts, but this particular project did not, in the end, present an opportunity that was appropriate for our company."

The news is surprising because earlier this week Wynn submitted sketches for his plans to finish the Foxwoods project and turn it into a luxury casino. He delivered the drawings to the state's Gaming Control Board weeks ahead of the proposal deadline of April 29. Designs showed a limestone building with red canopies, a fountain and lavish landscaping. It all seemed a done deal.

But then on Wednesday, the gaming board extended a $2,000-a-day fine on the Foxwoods Casino project even though Wynn had submitted both the design plans and financial info the regulators had requested. Perhaps Wynn became frustrated at that point. Certainly with Wynn out of the deal the Foxwoods project is in real danger of never being completed. Foxwoods does not have the money to continue the construction and there is a strong likelihood that the gaming license extended to the project may end up being pulled. Local sentiment on the project in South Philadephia has been mixed, some welcomed the jobs and potential tourism that it could bring while others worried over the local impact of having a casino nearby.

When Steve Wynn decided to take over the Foxwoods Philadelphia casino project he was hoping it would be a simple matter of a nod and a wave to get the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to let him proceed with the plans. But it looks like its going to be a bit of an involved process. While the gaming board decided not to pull the license from the project they aren't willing to hand it over to Wynn just yet.

Philly.com reports on Wynn's appearance before the board where he tried to convince them that he had the money and ability to complete the $600 million casino in South Philadelphia. What he mostly provided where pretty words rather than concrete plans and so the board has decided that Wynn must provide detailed financing information, architectural drawings and a construction timetable within the next two months. On April 29 the board will take another look at the proposal. Meanwhile the board continues to fine the Foxwoods group $2,000 a day until a successful project plan has been agreed upon. Local sentiment on the project is mixed, some hope the project will bring jobs to the region while others are protesting the idea of having a casino in the area.

Steve Wynn has had great success in Las Vegas and Macau but will his brand of casino luxury play in Philadelphia? Wynn Resorts has announced that it entered into a letter of intent with Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners, LP to take over the PDEP casino project planned for the Philadelphia waterfront. The PDEP is a group of investors who joined with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to win a casino license in 2006. The tribe runs two Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut but ran into financial trouble last year. The agreement is subject to the approval of the Pennsylvania Gaming Board. Wynn attended the University of Pennsylvania and stated in a release that "Philadelphia has always felt like home to me."

The Philadelphia casino project was originally a Foxwoods project but Foxwoods missed a December deadline to provide detailed architectural and engineering plans. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Gaming Control Board fined Foxwoods $2,000 per day for missing the deadline (the fees are now in the six figures). The project developers were facing the possibility of further sanctions, including losing the casino license. Wynn will take majority control of the project and be responsible for financing, building and running the casino.

Megarich couple on the outs could learn a lot from the Wynn divorce. Gambling mogul Steve Wynn and his ex-wife Elaine have split the shares in Wynn Resorts Ltd following what is their second divorce. She owns more than 11 million shares of the company, shares which were once communal property. This means that she and Steve Wynn each have around a nine percent share in the company. The Wynns already sold off some shares last summer. According to one article the move has made Aruze USA Inc. a subsidiary of a Japanese gaming company Wynn's largest shareholder with close to 20 percent of the shares.

Elaine Wynn indicated in an AP story that while she will still remain on the board and serve as a public face of the company she is shifting her focus to philanthropic efforts.

She is the chairwoman of national nonprofit Communities in Schools and she and Steve Wynn recently donated $1 million to nonprofit Three Square, to support the "BackPack for Kids" Program providing bags of food for needy children in the Clark County School District so they have something to eat over the weekend. The giant check bears both their names on the name of a foundation they started together.

While the marriages may not have worked out the Wynns still seem to have a good working relationship. Of course at one point the Blixseths were touted as having an amicable separation and we all know how that turned out. But Elaine Wynn has played a key role in determining the look and feel of Wynn resorts. She selected many of the retail shops and is partly responsible for the luxurious look and feel of the Wynn enterprises. Barring any unforeseen future squabbles, the company is likely stronger for continuing to keep her on the board and at least partly active in the organization.

It has been revealed that casino mogul Steve Wynn is the proud new owner of the Rembrandt painting that sold for a record $33.2 million last week at Christie's in London. The 1658 "Portrait of a Man, Half-Length, With His Arms Akimbo," was sold over the telephone. Wynn has not officially revealed that he was the buyer but the NY Times reported that he called several art dealers and scholars to ask their opinions of the piece before the sale.

Wynn is famous for his art collection which includes excellent pieces by Rubens, Vermeer and Cezanne as well as the Picasso masterpiece, Le Reve. Wynn, who suffers from the eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, famously put his elbow through the picture in 2006.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--The Beverly Hills home of the late DJ Adam " DJ AM" Goldstein has come on the market at $3.795 million. The listing for the midcentury one-story home, shown above, is here.
--Lakers player Sasha Vujacic will be among the first owners to call the W Hollywood Residences home when the building opens in mid-January. He has purchased a two-bedroom condo in the 15-story building.
--Author and screenwriter Brian Garfield has sold his Beverly Hills Post Office-area home for $1.795 million.
--The Antonio Moreno estate, a 1930 mansion named for the film star who lived in it until 1935, has sold for $4.2 million.
--Football great Joe Montana and his wife, Jennifer, have listed their 500-acre estate in Sonoma County's wine country for $49 million. The property website is here.

From the NY Post:
--A mysterious Asian real estate investor by the name of J. Lo has been renting a $100,000-a-month Park Imperial condo that belongs to Kobi Alexander, a former technology executive-turned-fugitive who's on the lam in Namibia. He has also signed a contract on a seven-bedroom condo at the Park Laurel building on West 63rd Street for close to its $28 million asking price. Lo also put a bid of close to $40 million on a Time Warner Center apartment owned by Internet pioneer Todd Wagner even though that residence isn't on the market. Lo also checked out a $31 million penthouse at Trump Park Avenue but has yet to make an offer there.
--Pharmaceutical mogul Richard Ullman has just sold his condo at One Central Park West for around $17 million.
Ullman also owns a condo at 15 Central Park West, which he bought for $23.5 million and then tried to sell for a sky-high $75 million price tag that found no takers.
--The new rental building at 808 Columbus Ave. has gotten some star power. Residents in the luxury building include Shannon Elizabeth and "Law & Order" actor Anthony Anderson.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Thomas Renyi, who retired as chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York last year, has picked up an apartment at 920 Fifth Avenue for $7.55 million, $2.55 million less than what it was first listed for in April 2008.
--The Hampshire House apartment once owned by the late Wall Street titan Zalman Bernstein is back on the market at a discount. The 25th-floor residence first went on the market for $17.5 million in 2007 but is now priced at $11.5 million. The listing is here.
--Arlene Farkas, the ex-wife of real estate heir Bruce Farkas, has cut price of her 14-room duplex at the River House. The five-bedroom co-op first hit the market for $15 million last November and is now listed for $12.3 million.
--Retired Phillip Morris executive Murray Bring, and his wife, Kathleen, have sold their 14th-floor apartment at 935 Park Avenue for $3.625 million.
--via NYT, sculptor Louise Bourgeois has been identified as the buyer behind the purchase of costume designer William Ivey Long's townhouse on West 20th Street. Bourgeois' Easton Foundation picked up the building for $4.75 million and will use it as an exhibition space and archive.
--via Curbed, Christopher Nixon Cox, the grandson of Richard Nixon, has sold his two-bedroom apartment at 10 East 70th Street for $1.4 million.
--via NYT, hedge fund manager Steve Eisman, who took a loss on the sale of his old apartment at 1125 Park Avenue back in August, has bought a four-bedroom penthouse duplex at 1120 Park Avenue for $7.4 million, 36 percent less than the original asking price.
--Investor and philanthropist Ephraim Gildor has fond a buyer for his duplex penthouse at the Park Laurel. It was listed at $28 million.
--Victoria's Secret president Ed Razek has sold his one-bedroom co-op at 32 East 64th Street for $2.25 million.
--Deborah Doyle McWhinney, who was appointed as the head of Citi's Personal Wealth Management division this spring, has paid $2.88 million for a co-op at 25 East 86th Street.
--Hedge fund manager Paolo Pellegrini has closed on the purchase of a 3,500-square-foot apartment at 88 Central Park West. Pellegrini and his wife Henrietta paid $9 million for the co-op, down from the $10.995 million asking price that owners Ray Errol Fox and Jean Thomas were seeking.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Software mogul Marty Sprinzen has found a buyer for his apartment at 838 Fifth Avenue. He bought for the ninth-floor residence for $15.8 million in 2007 and put it on the market for $24.5 million in May.
--Abigail Disney, Walt Disney's grandniece, put her two 300 West End Avenue apartments on the market for a combined $13,445,000 in 2008. She had paid the singer Harry Belafonte just $10.75 million for them a year and a half before. Last month, she and her husband sold off the apartments for $7.2 million, $3.55 million less than they'd paid.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
WBBM-Ch. 2 political editor Mike Flannery has listed his longtime 17-room mansion in Beverly for $1.25 million. The listing is here.
--An 11-room, red brick center-entry Colonial-style house in Kenilworth that served as actor Steve Martin's family home in the 1987 movie "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" has sold for $1.4 million after initially being listed in 2007 for $2.995 million.
--Tammy Walker, wife of the late Northwestern University football coach Randy Walker, has taken a big loss on the 13-room Colonial-style house in Wilmette that she and her husband purchased shortly before his death in 2006, selling it for $1.555 million.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Pete Townshend's ex-wife Karen has sold Tennyson House, the Twickenham mansion where she and Pete raised their three children. The three-story Georgian brick house sold for £5.5 million.
--Comedians Lenny Henry and Dawn French have dropped the price on Hyde End Farm, their six-bedroom Grade II-listed Georgian home near Newbury. It was listed at £3 million through Strutt & Parker but is now down to £2.25 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Michael Bay has picked a large piece of land in Bel-Air. He paid $10.9 million for a 4.93 acre, 3-parcel property with beautiful views. The current main house measures 6,067 square feet and includes two bedrooms but Bay may be planning to tear the house down.
--Did CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper and his partner buy a firehouse on West Third Street in New York City's Greenwich Village?
--Lisa Marie Presley has listed at home in Hidden Hills, California for $8.95 million.
--Media heir Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah have spend $23 million Australian on Le Manoir, an estate in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The mansion was sold at auction by the French Government who used the Bellevue Hill estate as their consulate.
--Rumors are swirling that Tom Cruise paid $18 million for a home in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood but the Real Estalker thinks the buyer could also be Larry Ellison.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Casino mogul Steve Wynn has paid $7.5 million for a Sun Valley, Idaho home.
NBA player Allen Iverson has cut the price of his Villanova, Pennsylvania home again. It is now listed at $3.25 million. It was at $3.999 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day last year.

As we mentioned a little while back, the New York Observer recently reported that casino mogul Steve Wynn's New York City apartment was up for sale. Now thanks to a post from the Real Estalker, we found out that the listing has gone live. Wynn's Fifth Avenue palace is a two-bedroom apartment that measures around 3,500 square feet.

Steve and Elaine Wynn are getting a divorce (actually it's their second divorce, they were first married in 1963 but divorced in 1986 and then remarried five years later). Their full-floor apartment was once a four bedroom home but the renovation trimmed the number of rooms and expanded the spaces with an eye toward the grand and bland. The main living area was once the living room, formal dining room and library and has views over Central Park. The master suite was created from three bedrooms and has his and hers bathrooms.

As the floor plan reveals the resulting layout is a bit odd. The master bedroom has been placed next to the living room to take advantage of the best views but this means that the two bathrooms are sequential rather than side by side. The kitchen is directly opposite the second master bathroom and the dining room has been shoved to the back of the apartment right in front of the laundry and utility areas. The home has been redone in shades that design books likely refer to as variations of honey, taupe, caramel and rattan but mostly it's just beige, elegant, but beige and with a hotel's anonymity. Particularly curious is the kitchen which seems to have matching granite floors and counters. The apartment is priced at an outrageous $25 million but it seems doubtful that the Wynns will get their price.

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Larry King, comedian? According to casino owner Steve Wynn, the host of CNN's Larry King Live is a very funny guy. Wynn dared King to take his act to the Vegas stage. He will perform for one night at Wynn's Theater on June 19 at 8 p.m. He will perform an act telling stories from some of his interviews and experiences. The performance will benefit his charity, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which provides funds for cardiac procedures for individuals who would be otherwise unable to receive necessary care. King's wife, Shawn, a country singer, will be the opening act. Tickets are on sale for $59, $69 and $79.

The king and queen of Las Vegas are divorcing. Billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn and wife Elaine filed for divorce last week. Wynn is the charismatic chief executive of Wynn Resorts which is behind the luxurious Wynn and Encore hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Elaine Wynn is a director on the company's board and was recently nominated for another three year term on the board.

This is a second divorce for the Wynns who were first married in 1963 but divorced in 1986 and then remarried five years later. Elaine Wynn has had an influential role in the organization especially in helping decide which stores would be in the Wynn Resorts' retail spaces. Rumor has it that Steve Wynn is involved with another woman, British socialite Andrea Danenza Hissom.

Steve and Elaine Wynn each own more than 24 million shares in Wynn Resorts. Those shares have slumped in the past few months but are still worth around $460 million. The divorce could be one of the costliest in the U.S. and a great deal depends on just how amicable it is. If Wynn needs to buy his wife out that could have a serious impact on a company that is already affected by the tourism slump in Las Vegas.