Charles Atwood
Joins Harrah's Entertainment Board of Directors
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.
announced today that Charles L. Atwood, Harrah's
senior vice president and chief financial officer,
has been elected to the Harrah's Entertainment Board
of Directors, subject to regulatory approvals.
"Chuck brings tremendous financial skill, experience
and knowledge of our industry to our board of directors,"
said Gary Loveman, chairman, chief executive and
president of Harrah's. "Throughout his 26-year
career with Harrah's, Chuck has played a central
role in this company's successful evolution into
the world's largest casino operator. His contributions
to Harrah's have been invaluable, and it is a distinct
pleasure to welcome him to our board."
As chief financial officer, Atwood oversees all
of the company's finance functions, as well as development
and merger and acquisition activities. Atwood joined
Harrah's in 1979, and held numerous finance and
development positions within the company before
his appointment as chief financial officer in 2001.
Atwood also serves on the board of Equity Residential,
a publicly traded real estate investment trust that
owns and operates multi-family residential properties
across the United States.
Atwood's election expands the Harrah's board to
13 directors. Atwood becomes the second management
representative on the board, joining Loveman.
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., is the world's largest
provider of branded casino entertainment. Since
its beginning in Reno, Nevada 67 years ago, Harrah's
has grown through development of new properties,
expansions and acquisitions. On June 13, 2005, Harrah's
Entertainment acquired Caesars Entertainment, Inc.,
and now owns or manages through various subsidiaries
more than 40 casinos in three countries, primarily
under the Harrah's, Caesars and Horseshoe brand
names. With nearly 4 million square feet of casino
space, more than 40,000 hotel rooms and nearly 100,000
employees, the Harrah's portfolio is the most diverse
in the gaming industry. Harrah's Entertainment is
focused on building loyalty and value with its customers
through a unique combination of great service, excellent
products, unsurpassed distribution, operational
excellence and technology leadership.
This release includes "forward-looking statements"
intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability
established by the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements
by the fact that they do not relate strictly to
historical or current facts. These statements contain
words such as "may," "will,"
"project," "might," "expect,"
"believe," "anticipate," "intend,"
"could," "would," "estimate,"
"continue" or "pursue," or the
negative or other variations thereof or comparable
terminology. In particular, they include statements
relating to, among other things, future actions,
strategies, future performance, future financial
results of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. These forward-looking
statements are based on current expectations and
projections about future events.
Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance or results
and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot
be predicted or quantified and, consequently, the
actual performance or results of Harrah's may differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, the following factors
as well as other factors described from time to
time in our reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (including the sections entitled
"Risk Factors" and "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations" contained therein):
financial community and rating agency perceptions
of Harrah's; the effects of economic, credit and
capital market conditions on the economy in general,
and on gaming and hotel companies in particular;
construction factors, including delays, zoning issues,
environmental restrictions, soil and water conditions,
weather and other hazards, site access matters and
building permit issues; the effects of environmental
and structural building conditions relating to our
properties; the ability to timely and cost-effectively
integrate into Harrah's operations the companies
that it acquires, access to available and feasible
financing on a timely basis; changes in laws (including
increased tax rates), regulations or accounting
standards, third-party relations and approvals,
and decisions of courts, regulators and governmental
bodies; litigation outcomes and judicial actions,
including gaming legislative action, referenda and
taxation; the ability of our customer-tracking,
customer loyalty and yield-management programs to
continue to increase customer loyalty and same store
sales; our ability to recoup costs of capital investments
through higher revenues; acts of war or terrorist
incidents; abnormal gaming holds; and the effects
of competition, including locations of competitors
and operating and market competition.
Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant
to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date
made. Harrah's disclaims any obligation to update
the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements which speak only as of the date stated,
or if no date is stated, as of the date of this
press release.
Source: Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.
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