Summary:
- MGM Resorts’ Q1 2025 revenue dropped 2% year-over-year, partly due to the absence of a Super Bowl boost.
- MGM’s partnership with Marriott drove over 440,000 room nights through April.
- Major remodels and expansion plans, NYC & Japan confirmed.
MGM Resorts International reported a 2% decline in revenue for the first quarter of 2025, bringing in $4.3 billion compared to last year’s $4.4 billion.
The company correlates much of the drop to an unusual boost in Q1 2024, when Las Vegas hosted the Super Bowl, a major event that drove significant traffic to MGM’s Strip properties.
MGM Execs Stay Confident
Despite the slight decrease in revenue, MGM executives expressed confidence in the company’s momentum, which is mostly driven by the growing partnership with Marriott International.
The alliance, formed in 2023, connects MGM’s properties with Marriott’s loyalty program, which boasts over 180 million members. So far, that relationship is paying off.
CFO Jonathan Halkyard
We already have, just through April, 440,000 room nights that have been booked. You do the math. That’s over 20,000 rooms a night that are being booked through the Marriott channel. And these are customers that we think are very accretive compared to the customers that they’ve replaced
Important Financial Moves
MGM also made aggressive moves on the financial front, significantly expanding its stock buyback activity.
The company repurchased nearly 15 million shares in Q1 for about $494 million and an additional 8 million shares in April for another $215 million. The board also greenlit up to $2 billion in future repurchases.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter landed at $637 million, slightly down from $673 million a year ago. Net income came in at $149 million, a decrease from $217 million in Q1 2024, which MGM attributes to lower revenue levels.
While global economic uncertainty remains a concern for some, MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle maintained a steady tone.
He dismissed suggestions that potential tariffs proposed by President Trump would delay major renovations or construction.
Those are biggest things that I think could be tariff-related we’ll have to pay close attention to, but unless something happens more macro with the environment and our balance sheet, we wouldn’t change our thinking around those significant remodels
Hornbuckle said, referring to work planned at the Aria and Cosmopolitan.
On longer-term projects like a potential casino license in New York or MGM’s development in Japan, Hornbuckle said there’s been no shift in strategy.
It is of interest—we watch where the others are going. We’ll take a unique position.
Meanwhile, international travel trends are holding steady. COO Cory Sanders noted that while leisure and Canadian segments are down, high-end international business remains strong. “Actually, we just had an amazing event in April” he said.
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