Steve Cohen Wins Approval for One of Three New Casinos in New York City

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Meta's AI infrastructure is bringing jobs to local communities like Las Lunas, New Mexico. Phil, who grew up in Las Lunas, has seen the positive impact that Meta's ongoing $600 billion investment in American jobs and infrastructure will bring.

Peter Rudegeair (0:15)

I had to travel for work.

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Missing moments, I can't get back.

E.B. Solomont (0:19)

Then Meta opened a data center and brought new jobs.

Peter Rudegeair (0:22)

Now, I don't worry about missing out anymore.

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Learn more about Meta's investment at meta.com/buildingamerica.

Sabrina Siddiqui (0:33)

Meta's owner and billionaire investor Steve Cohen wins approval for one of the three new casinos in New York City. Plus this North Carolina village is where some of America's richest people go to fly under the radar.

E.B. Solomont (0:47)

Cashier only has 825 year-round residents and so to have four billionaires and to have this influx of wealth over the summer is just incredibly stark.

Sabrina Siddiqui (0:57)

And Goldman Sachs is buying a company that specializes in ETFs known as Boomer Candy. It's Monday, December 1st, I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

A years-long effort to bring casinos to New York City resulted in state approvals for three in the city today. A gaming commission has approved bids from Mets owner Steve Cohen and two other developers opening the door to high-end gambling venues in a city that has long restricted them. Cohen, the billionaire investor and the entertainment company Hard Rock want their casino beside the Mets Citi Field in Queens. Their $8 billion plan includes a hotel, an amphitheater and 25 acres of green space by a future soccer stadium. Also approved were Bally's $4 billion project that would be next to its Bronx golf course and a $5.5 billion plan from Malaysia's Genting Group to turn its Queens slots operation into a full-fledged casino. The state will collect a license fee of at least $500 million from each recipient and the casino backers have said they'll lead to good jobs and boost tax revenue. Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Rudegeair joins us now with more. Peter, the casino proposals got pushback from some residents, local politicians and community organizations who had worries about traffic and other concerns. Why did this politically tricky project appeal to Cohen?

Peter Rudegeair (2:30)

So Cohen has talked about the land around Citi Field and even if you've been to Citi Field, it's kind of the stadium and then it's just a huge parking lot. There's not a lot else out there besides kind of car repair shops. And Steve Cohen has said that the biggest complaint he gets from his fans is they come to the game and there's nothing else to do there. So this kind of solves that problem, right? You have your venue for live music, you have a big park, you'll have shops and restaurants and a hotel casino, bringing more people to Queens and hopefully more people to the Mets.

Sabrina Siddiqui (2:55)

You write this is a comeback for Cohen. His former hedge fund pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 2013 How did he get from there to here?

Peter Rudegeair (3:05)

Sure, it's been a long road back. Steve Cohen was prevented from managing other people's money for five years as part of his settlement. That expired in 2018

He returned to the hedge fund business with a new fund called.72, Asset Management. Since then, it's grown to be one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. It has about $42 billion in assets under management and employs around 300 people. But really it started in 2020 when he purchased a majority stake in the Mets. Steve Cohen used to be a pretty publicity shy figure, didn't like having his picture taken or speaking to the public. And now you can find him on X. He has around 300,000 followers. They're mixing it up with Mets fans and spending more money than anyone else in baseball to construct one of the priciest rosters in Major League Baseball.

Sabrina Siddiqui (3:47)

That was Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Rudegeair. Peter, thank you.

Peter Rudegeair (3:50)

Thank you.

Sabrina Siddiqui (3:55)

Goldman Sachs is making a bet on a kind of exchange-traded fund often described as boomer candy. The investment bank is buying a company called Innovator Capital Management for about $2 billion. Innovator oversees about $28 billion in assets across its funds and specializes in what are called defined outcome or buffer funds. Those ETFs aim to protect investors from volatility in the stock market, insuring against losses while capturing some gains. Baby boomers and people near retirement have gravitated to them as a way to stay invested in stocks with less risk. Goldman says the deal would make its asset management arm a top 10 provider of active ETFs. And starting February 1st, air travelers who don't have a real ID compliant ID will have to pay a $45 fee to go through airport security. The fee has to be paid before the traveler gets to the airport. The requirement for real ID compliant driver's licenses at the airport began in May. Officials say 94% of travelers have since presented an acceptable ID. Stock markets slid with the Dow leading losses and closing down 0.9%. Bitcoin continued its slump, falling 6.4% today in its steepest one-day decline since March. Companies focused on crypto like Coinbase and Robinhood saw their stocks drop too, while shares of Shopify, an e-commerce platform, closed down nearly 6% after an outage interrupted transactions on a major shopping day.