People Inc. Targets MGM in $18bn Casino Takeover Bid
People Inc. has made an all-cash offer to acquire MGM Resorts International, the casino group behind Bellagio, Aria and other major Las Vegas properties, in a deal valuing the company at around $18bn including debt.
The company, formerly known as IAC, already owns roughly 26.1% of MGM and has offered $48.30 per share for the remaining stock. The proposal represents a 10.6% premium to MGM’s previous closing price and a 24.1% premium to its 30-day volume-weighted average price.
MGM shares closed up roughly 15% on Monday after the offer became public. Shares in People Inc. closed around 1% higher.
Barry Diller, chairman of People Inc., already sits on MGM’s board. In a letter to MGM’s board of directors, he said he would recuse himself from any board actions related to the proposed transaction.
“We began investing in MGM nearly six years ago because we believed it represented a rare kind of business: one with real-world assets that AI cannot easily replicate or disintermediate and exceptional digital growth opportunities,” Diller said.
He added that People Inc. believes the market “materially undervalues the power and durability of MGM’s assets” and described MGM’s management team as “superb.”
Second Megadeal in Four Days
The offer comes four days after Caesars Entertainment agreed to a $17.6bn take-private deal with Fertitta Entertainment. Together, the two transactions point to a sharp revaluation of major US casino groups by buyers with wider hospitality, media and consumer portfolios.
People Inc.’s MGM logic extends well beyond casino floors. MGM Rewards has around 75 million members, giving Diller’s group access to a large travel, entertainment and gaming customer base. People Inc.’s media assets, including People, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine and Real Simple, could open a new route to leisure and lifestyle consumers.
That differs from earlier media-gambling deals built around sports betting. MGM is a casino resort operator first, and its Las Vegas assets sit more naturally alongside travel, lifestyle and entertainment brands than with sportsbook-focused acquisition strategies.
BetMGM and Empire City: Two Unresolved Questions
The deal raises two structural questions that matter beyond the headline price.
The first is BetMGM, the online betting and iCasino joint venture owned equally by MGM and Entain. If People Inc. takes MGM private, BetMGM would sit in an unusual corporate structure: one parent private, one publicly listed in London. That arrangement complicates governance, future investment decisions and any eventual exit for either party.
The second concerns MGM’s land position in New York. In October 2025, MGM walked away from its Empire City project in Yonkers, abandoning what had been a potential $2.3bn development. That decision now looks more significant: Resorts World NYC, which converted to a full commercial casino, is already generating around $28m per week. MGM no longer has a seat at that table.
The proposal is non-binding and still requires MGM board approval. CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin had previously reported that an offer could come as early as Monday.
TGJ Take
The real acquisition target is not MGM’s casino floors. It is 75 million loyalty members and the customer data behind them. Diller is pricing in a future where that database feeds People Inc.’s travel and lifestyle media portfolio, not just casino hotel bookings. Whether MGM Rewards can be repositioned as a media-grade audience rather than a transactional loyalty scheme is the only thesis that justifies this price.
BetMGM is the deal’s structural weak point. A 50/50 joint venture between a newly private US company and a FTSE-listed Entain creates misaligned disclosure obligations, capital timelines and shareholder pressures. Any strategic move at BetMGM, a buyout, a sale or a restructuring, becomes harder to execute from that position. Suppliers and platform providers with BetMGM exposure should watch Entain’s response closely.
The Empire City withdrawal quietly defines MGM’s US ceiling. Walking away from a $2.3bn New York development and then watching Resorts World NYC generate $28m a week is the kind of capital decision that follows a company for a decade. Under private ownership, MGM may revisit that conversation faster, but the window has narrowed.
The broader signal is this: two of the three largest US casino groups are being taken private in the same week. Public market valuations in this sector no longer reflect what strategic buyers are willing to pay.
