Las Vegas Sands director quits and cites COO dismissal

Sands, which is controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, said earlier this week that Weidner, a nearly 14-year veteran of the company, resigned several days after the board informed him his employment would be terminated.

Analysts have questioned whether Senior Vice President Robert Goldstein and Bradley Stone, head of global operations and construction, will follow Weidner out the door given that the three were hired together by Adelson in 1995 and had worked together for several years before that. A spokesman for Sands said Stone and Goldstein were not immediately available for comment.

Sands said it has named Jeffrey Schwartz, chairman and co-founder of Asia’s Global Logistic Properties, to replace Purcell as a company director. In a letter dated Monday and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Purcell said he had reservations "as to the wisdom and the timing" of the efforts to oust Weidner.

"It was, in my judgment, wrong to engage in discussions with Weidner to request his resignation without a full and open discussion of the potential consequences of the series of actions that were planned," Purcell said. "No business enterprise should undertake the significant actions that have been and are proposed to be taken today without a full meeting of its board."

Sands said in a statement that "the process was proper and appropriate under the circumstances." The company said in a regulatory filing last year that its board had formed an executive committee to address a number of outstanding differences between Chairman and Chief Executive Adelson and other senior management members.

The company, which operates the Palazzo and Venetian resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as two casinos in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, has struggled to avoid defaulting on its debt as gambling demand wanes at the same time credit has become unavailable.

Sands has halted most development projects, but will open a casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on May 22 and Singapore’s first gambling resort at the end of this year. Sands shares, which rose 28 % to close at us$ 2.27 on the New York Stock Exchange, were lower at us$ 2.22 after hours.