‘Extremely Gratifying’
Adelson had recently rescued Las Vegas Sands from the brink of bankruptcy. His company’s stock, which lost more than 90 percent in 2008, had recovered almost half of its value. That was good news for his place on the list of the world’s richest people, a ranking that he follows closely.
“I don’t need to pat myself on the back to say, look at all the good things I did,” he said. “But the success and the comeback that I’ve enjoyed, and the company’s enjoyed, have been extremely gratifying.”
The share gains were also good for Adelson’s tax shelters. That’s because after Sands stock plunged in 2008, Adelson plowed even more of his fortune into new GRATs, the SEC filings show. When the stock rebounded, those GRATs swelled in value.
A few days after the interview, he would pour $725 million from one of his GRATs into trusts for the benefit of his family. If he’d given the same amount to family members without using a GRAT, it would have resulted in a gift-tax bill of more than $250 million.