At virtually the last possible minute, Harrah’s Entertainment changed their mind about going public, entering the stock market and being sold on the NASDAQ. The company was set to hold their initial public offering (IPO) today, but have now released a statement that they will remain private for the time being.

Though they did not give specific reasons for changing their mind, in Harrah’s brief statement, they cited the poor market conditions. This is a low point for the stock market as well as the casino industry, so it is a time when Harrah’s stock is certainly not at its highest. Harrah’s was already a public company until three years ago, when two private equity companies bought much of Harrah’s debt and took it private.

During the first nine months of 2010, Harrah’s Entertainment – which owns 50 casinos in 12 states and seven nations – reported a loss of $634.4 million. The company has seen a slight improvement of late, but is still nearly $20 billion in debt. The company was hoping to shed much of their debt through the market flotation, but now will have to look at other ways to get out of the red.

It has been reported that approximately 22% of Harrah’s revenue is spent on interest payments to their debt-holders. Much of that debt is owed to Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group, who bought $30.7 billion worth of the company in 2007. At the time, the company’s revenue was at a peak of $10.8 billion, but it fell by 6% to $10.1 billion in 2008, during the recession. If the IPO had been held today and Harrah’s had entered the NASDAQ, the two private equity companies would still have retained a majority stake in the company.

Tags: Harrah's Entertainment, Las Vegas casino, stock market