Vegas Financing & The XXX Files

MGM MIRAGE SECURES MORE FINANCING

MGM Mirage has secured another $550 million of the $3 billion in financing needed to complete the $9.2 billion CityCenter project in Las Vegas.

David Duchovny
AP
David Duchovny

Reuters is reporting that $300 million is coming from China Construction Bank. MGM's CEO Terrence Lanni had told me that a significant amount of the financing would come "from the far east and the EU." The company had earlier secured $1.8 billion, now it's up to $2.3 billion, and management still believes it will have the full $3 billion by the end of September.

What's taking so long? Company President Jim Murren tells Reuters there has been "a spirited debate over pricing," and that the loan package is being priced at 375 basis points over LIBOR.

The XXX Files

David Duchovny has voluntarily admitted himself into rehab for sex addiction. News Corp.'s Fox has to be breathing a sigh of relief, as this happened a month AFTER the release of the film, "The X Files: I Want to Believe."

But is this good or bad for CBS's Showtime, which will launch the second season of the now-aptly named "Californication" next month? In the show Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a writer with a midlife crisis who "has an appetite for beautiful women."

On a message board for the show, one fan says the addiction might explain "the brutal honesty in Hank's character...I feel for Tea and the kids. I wish them, including David, all the best. Thankfully its not so detrimental to his physical health as drugs or alcohol, but emotionally damaging nevertheless to everyone involved." The truth is out there.

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