Story
Sheldon Adelson built a casino empire starting with a trade show
Sam recounts how Sheldon Adelson started Comdex, an '80s personal-computer trade show, sold it to SoftBank for $1 billion (later renamed CES), and used trade shows as the on-ramp to building the Las Vegas Sands hotel empire.
“The way that he started that was he started this thing called Comdex, which was a trade show. It stood for, it was like personal computers. He started it in the '80s. Eventually he sold it for $1 billion to SoftBank and it was renamed CES.”
Fact
The trade show business is really the real estate business
Adelson explained the leap from trade shows to hotels: they're the same business. In trade shows he was selling real estate to vendors at X dollars per square foot, which is why building convention centers and hotels was a natural extension.
“But he goes, "They're the same thing. In the trade show business, I'm in the real estate business." and I'm selling real estate to vendors at X dollars per square foot.”
Fact
CES founder built COMDEX, sold to SoftBank for $1B, became a casino billionaire
Sam notes the man who started the trade show that became CES originally called it COMDEX in the 1980s and sold it to SoftBank for $1 billion. That man, Sheldon Adelson, went on to become a casino magnate worth around $15 billion.
“the guy who started CES, he originally called it COMDEX in the 1980s, and then he sold it to SoftBank for $1 billion. And that guy, his name is Sheldon Adelson. He's worth $15 billion and is one of the richest men in the world”