Sphere Entertainment faces massive debt payments

The Sphere was “a hit, at least artistically,” but for parent company Sphere Entertainment, the “bigger problem, as always, is the company’s debt,” according to PUCK’s Bill Cohan. The Sphere “opened to great fanfare” in September. 2023, but ended up costing about $2.3 billion, “as much or more than any other construction project in Las Vegas history.” According to Sphere’s public financial data, it was “a tough year,” at least between June 2023 and June 2024. During that time, Sphere generated nearly $500 million in revenue but also suffered an operating loss of $480 million. With operating losses “growing at the Sphere level, any debt would likely be too high.” But the company has nearly $1.4 billion in bank debt, of which about $829 million is due “pretty much now.” Because the company “couldn’t pay that amount” and couldn’t pay another $2.2 million in interest due, it last week “cobbled together what is known on Wall Street as ‘forbearance.’ This is what James Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment, and … his family and their advisors at PJT Partners and Paul Weiss say: “It’s time to do a deal with JPMorgan Chase, the leading bank, and Davis Polk, the law firm at the Wall Street, to negotiate” (PUCK, 10/16).