MGM Resorts Jet Returns to Las Vegas as Board Weighs $18 Billion Takeover Bid

MGM Resorts International’s Embraer Legacy 500 (N783MM) arrived at Harry Reid International Airport on Tuesday evening after a two-hour-and-36-minute flight from Anchorage Farm Field, a small private airstrip in rural Texas. The departure point—56TX, near the Oklahoma border—is not a typical base for the casino operator’s fleet, which normally shuttles high-rollers between Las Vegas and major metros like New York, Miami, or Los Angeles.

The flight lands the same week MGM Resorts’ board of directors, led by independent chairman Paul Salem, is deliberating the unsolicited $18 billion acquisition proposal from People Inc., the holding company formerly known as IAC chaired by Barry Diller. People Inc. offered $48.30 per share in cash for the roughly 74% of MGM it does not already own, a premium of 10.6% over the prior closing price, according to a regulatory filing cited by the Eastern Herald. Diller has recused himself from board discussions, leaving Salem—a Providence-based private equity veteran—to evaluate whether the bid extracts maximum value for minority shareholders.

Recent flights show MGM’s aircraft frequently connect Las Vegas with Southern California and Houston, but Tuesday’s trip from a remote Texas strip suggests a member of the board’s special committee or a key adviser may have been summoned to Strip headquarters. The next few days will determine whether Salem and his fellow independent directors open negotiations, seek a rival bidder, or reject Diller’s offer outright—a decision that will reshape control of the Bellagio, MGM Grand, and a third of the Las Vegas Strip’s hotel rooms.