MGM Director Meister Slightly Trims Stake in Casino Stock

• MGM board member sold 242,000 shares of gaming stock this week
• His hedge fund Corvex Management still owns nearly 5.39 million MGM shares

Keith Meister, the hedge fund manager who’s a member of the board of directors at MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), modestly reduced his equity holdings in the casino giant.

On Thursday, Sept. 11, Meister’s Corvex Management disposed of 242,000 shares of MGM at a weighted average price of $35.42, generating $8.57 million in gross proceeds. Transactions occurred at prices ranging from $35.54 to $35.61, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

After the sale, the filing shows beneficial ownership of 5,385,478 shares held indirectly for accounts of private investment funds advised by Corvex. The filing disclaims that the reporting person directly beneficially owns these shares except to the extent of his pecuniary interest, and offers to provide details on the number of shares sold at each price upon request,” according to a Stock Titan summary of the sale.

The founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Corvex Management joined MGM’s board in January 2019 as an independent director. Neither Meister nor his firm publicly commented on why the stake in the Bellagio operator was reduced and they are not required by the SEC to do so.

Corvex Remains One of the Largest MGM Shareholders

On a percentage basis, Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) is the largest MGM investor, controlling about 22% of the casino stock.

Despite that significant stake, IAC is not classified as an institutional investor. That group is comprised of endowments, fund managers, hedge funds like Corvex, and pension plans, among other professional market participants.

Corvex’s MGM stake has gradually declined over recent years. At the end of 2019, the hedge fund owned 20.93 million shares of the largest operator on the Las Vegas Strip. Even with that decline, MGM was among the hedge fund’s top five long positions at the end of the second quarter.

Corvex Holds Other Gaming Stocks

Meister, a protégé of noted gaming investor Carl Icahn, has other exposure to the industry beyond MGM. In 2023, Corvex took a position in Entain (OTC: GMVHY), MGM’s partner on the BetMGM joint venture. That position was increased to 5.3% earlier this year.

The hedge fund also took a stake that eventually grew to roughly 17% in Swedish internet gambling giant the Kindred Group in 2022, benefiting when that company was sold for $2.7 billion to Française des Jeux (FDJ), France’s lottery monopoly, in 2024.