Adelson's Las Vegas Sands may break loan agreement

Adelson, whose personal wealth is largely tied to his ownership in Sands, has seen his stake's value plunge along with the company's stock price, which has dropped 93 percent over the past year. At one point his shares were worth some $30 billion, making him this country's third-richest person, but as of Thursday's stock price that value had shriveled to $1.9 billion.

If Sands can't raise capital and does default on portions of its long-term debt, estimated at $8.8 billion by Thomson Reuters, the company said it would have to suspend some, if not all of its development projects.

Instead, the Las Vegas-based company hopes to boost earnings in its hometown, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.

But casino revenue has been down for months in Vegas amid cutbacks on travel. Also, those who do come to here have gambled less and spent less on non-gambling activities.

The drop has been especially severe in Adelson's specialty, midweek convention business. As of August, overall convention business for all companies in Las Vegas had dropped 23.6 percent to $777 million for the first months of 2008.

The company said it is evaluating projects in various stages of development in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Macau and Singapore, and is meeting with a financial advisor to explore ways to raise capital.

Adelson, 75, worked as a financial adviser and real estate investor before building casinos. He created the technology trade show Comdex in 1979, which he sold it to Japan's Softbank Corp. for $860 million in 1995.

Adelson then bought the Sands Hotel and Casino, former home to the Rat Pack, in 1989. Seven years later, he was inspired by his honeymoon in Venice to erect The Venetian in its place, a $1.5 billion casino resort. The 4,027-room Venetian combined with the 3,066-suite Palazzo makes Las Vegas Sands operator of the largest property under one roof on the Las Vegas Strip.

The news from Las Vegas Sands's regulatory filing sent the company's stock plunging $3.81, or 32.7 percent, on Thursday to $7.85, far below the top end of its 52-week range of $122.96.