Tilman Fertitta on cutbacks: ‘I haven’t had one negative comment’

“People know we’re in a fight for our lives right now,” Fertitta said regarding COVID-19. He says he’s had to furlough ~40,000 employees.

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who also owns the Landry’s restaurant group and Golden Nugget casino chain, has had to cut hours for hourly staff and furlough roughly 40,000 employees at his non-Rockets businesses amid shutdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in a new interview Thursday with Texas Monthly, Fertitta says they understand the reasons why. “People know we’re in a fight for our lives right now,” he said. “I haven’t had one negative comment to me.”

In a Q&A with Michael Hardy, Fertitta says the furloughs are to avoid having to “fold up” his businesses within a short timeframe.

Marriott and MGM have furloughed tens of thousands of employees. I can keep everyone employed, that’s easy. But then we would just fold up in 45 to 50 days. My employees want me to save the company. I can tell you honestly, people will work in this office for no pay. They want to save the company. Do people want a job for four months, or do they want a job for four weeks?

Fertitta, who says he is now feeding his 2,000 Houston employees out of one of his shuttered restaurants for free, views the potential economic fallout as an crisis for the United States. He projects that his companies can survive the pandemic at current rates until the end of 2020.

I can tell you this, I’ll survive this before the country does. Okay? I’ll out-survive the country. Just like I out-survived the banks in 1987, okay? The country will fold before I do. If the country is shut down come October or November, it’ll be anarchy in the streets.

When the interviewer asked why the star of “Billion Dollar Buyer” couldn’t afford to pay his employees during the shutdown, he noted that many of his assets aren’t redeemable for money in the current market.

“If you go find me a buyer for my yachts and my mansions and my jets, I’ll sell them tomorrow,” said Fertitta, who added that he “can’t touch” his $2 billion in equity on the Rockets following his September 2017 purchase. The complete interview can be read at Texas Monthly.

As for the Rockets, they’re currently projected to have the NBA’s No. 6 payroll for the 2020-21 season at over $130 million in total salary. While Fertitta has not warned of any financial consequences for the basketball franchise due to the pandemic, it’s a storyline worth monitoring if his businesses are not allowed to reopen in the coming weeks.

Though all NBA owners will feel at least some financial effects due to the pandemic, Fertitta could be disproportionately impacted given the nature of his businesses (entertainment, restaurants, and hospitality).

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