Rumor Mill: LIV buys 50% of Amnesia

Long article, but a good read. Thanks for posting.

Are MMG/Dave being squeezed out of LIV and Arkadia in preparation for a change of control/ownership at the Fontainebleau that's part of a settlement of some of the lawsuits against various Soffer family real estate holdings?

Could someone from Vegas that prefers to run nightlife operations in-house be planning to take over the Fontainebleau?

Article on the Soffer family real estate empire:

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1051:family-a-fortune&catid=46:features

I'm going to jump in here..

First off I have no knowledge of anything, zero zip nada.

There is one simple question you need to ask yourself. Is there a more qualified person in the US to run LIV other than DG?

Of course not. Others may do just as well but certainly won't do better than him.

Anyone forcing DG out is signing the death sentence of the LIV, just that simple. This isn't vegas, it's a small community and DG has known all these players going on a decade now.

Either DG wants to own a piece of a club

or

DG will try an AMG style of management around town


LIV would not survive long without him. Sure it would be packed but packed with the wrong kind of crowd, non vips..

I'm sure we'll know more very soon.

That's actually my theory. MMG is going for "management contracts" now. Politely convince existing venue owners they have their head up their asses, and for a small fee, they will go in and make sure everything is just so.

I think that is a very good idea on Grutman's part. I have actually been surprised that he has not expanded in this way sooner.

I think both owning a club and being the next AMG is a poor idea. But that's why they pay DG the big bucks he knows more than me.

It is a potential source of conflict. If there's an ownership stake in one club, and a "management contract" in another, of course Dave will favor the one he has a bigger interest in.

LIV would not survive long without him. Sure it would be packed but packed with the wrong kind of crowd, non vips..

IF LIV's success is all attributable to Grutman as you suggest Then why did the LP version of Cameo that Dave was supposed to pack with VIPS fail.

How many VIP whales go to LIV because of Dave Vs. how many go to LIV because Jeff Soffer has been a billionaire playboy for the past 25 years and many of those VIPS are his friends?

Dave could not take most of those VIP clients with him if he left LIV. He may think he can, but he can't.

LIV would not survive long without him. Sure it would be packed but packed with the wrong kind of crowd, non vips..

IF LIV's success is all attributable to Grutman as you suggest Then why did the LP version of Cameo that Dave was supposed to pack with VIPS fail.

How many VIP whales go to LIV because of Dave Vs. how many go to LIV because Jeff Soffer has been a billionaire playboy for the past 25 years and many of those VIPS are his friends?

Dave could not take most of those VIP clients with him if he left LIV. He may think he can, but he can't.

I'll answer your post with one name, Kurt Warner... People with talent still fail all the time if situation isn't right. DG and LP clearly were in well over their heads. They both don't understand each others market. So they failed, so what? Mansion, LP etc all have failures on their resumes. Steve Jobs was fired from his own company. Look at AIG, GM, wall street, to hold anyone to a level of perfection is just stupid even more so in an industry that is about hype.

Word around the camp fire is Soffer is the money man buying Amesia and MMG will run it and LIV...

Unless they do something else besides big name djs, I think it's a very poor idea.

A couple of things in favor of this move:

1. Amnesia is the premiere club space on Miami Beach
2. The LIV/MMG group now have bookends on the party scene with a North and a South location
3. MMG/Dave Grutman/Jeff Soffer/LIV are the hottest name in the club industry at the moment.
4. Profit

^ Agreed. From what I'm hearing LIV and Amnesia's conference lineups are going to be out of control.