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LAS VEGAS — Wynn Resorts Ltd. said its billionaire chief executive, Steve Wynn, and his wife, Elaine, have sold 2 million, or $114 million worth, of their shares of common stock in the company to get more cash in anticipation of their pending divorce.
The shares represent less than 10 percent of the Wynns' holdings in the company, the Las Vegas-based casino operator said Tuesday.
Elaine Wynn is on the company's board, and shareholders overwhelmingly supported her for re-election during their annual meeting May 5.
Steve and Elaine Wynn filed divorce papers in Las Vegas on March 5, and a judge sealed them the same day, keeping most details of the case private.
Steve and Elaine Wynn, college sweethearts who married in 1963, divorced in 1986 only to remarry five years later. Elaine Wynn, a former beauty queen, has been active in the family business and is a regular on the Las Vegas charity and social circuit.
Vogue magazine once dubbed her "the unofficial queen of Las Vegas."
Wynn Resorts says the shares were sold Friday at an average price of $57 per share for a total of $114 million. The stock closed at $57.15 that day.
The company's shares were up $2.19, 4.1 percent to $55.08 in afternoon trading on Tuesday.
Wynn Resorts earned $25.5 million, or 21 cents per share, during the second quarter this year. That was 91 percent below the same period a year earlier, but it beat analyst expectations.
The Wynns have been dogged since January by tabloid reports that said Steve Wynn had fallen for another woman.
In happier times, Steve Wynn once said he bought the Desert Inn casino, the site of his Wynn Las Vegas, as a birthday gift for his wife.
The couple has two adult daughters, Kevyn and Gillian.
In 1993, then-26-year-old Kevyn Wynn was kidnapped from her home and freed several hours later for a $1.5 million ransom.
