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James Packer's other big relationship - with Asian casino billionaire Lawrence Ho - may have just broken

Colin Kruger, CBD
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Now that James Packer's Crown Resorts has sold its final share of its former jewel, Melco Crown, his former partner Lawrence Ho has wasted no time in distancing himself from the man who made him a billionaire. 

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Crown cashing out of Macau and Las Vegas

James Packer is scrapping plans for an international gambling empire as Crown looks to offload shares in an increasingly risky Macau to focus on a safer bet at home.

"In all these instances, you had casino sales people running around offering credit, talking about collection ... it wasn't discreet," he told the Financial Times. 

"That's what caught their attention: 'Like what the hell, you're deliberately spitting on our faces'," said Ho. 

A spokesman later claimed Ho did not mean to single out Packer and Crown – he also mentioned a South Korean casino operator whose employees were detained in 2015.

But Ho's message for Beijing was loud and clear: Don't lump his company – now known as Melco International – with these clumsy foreigners. 

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As CBD reported recently, Packer made the fateful decision in 2006 to spend $US900 million ($1.2 billion) on a piece of paper, a sub-concession, that would allow him to operate casinos in Macau.

It meant that the freshly minted Asian partnership did not have to rely on Lawrence's colourful father, Stanley Ho, for a licence to operate a casino in Macau. The PBL/Melco team could build casinos under their own licence. 

Ho now controls the licence via Melco International, which is the main source of his $US2.4 billion fortune, according to Forbes. 

Crown has staged a complete retreat from Asia, and its global expansion plans, following the arrests in China. 

Adding insult to injury, Ho is confident that the sell-down by his former partner is ill-timed. Ho told Bloomberg recently that he is "extremely bullish" on Macau where gambling revenues are now growing again after three consecutive years of declines driven by a corruption crackdown in mainland China.

In April, the Macau gambling market recorded its third consecutive month of double-digit revenue growth.

"Definitely within the next five years, it will grow back to the $US45 billion gaming market," said Ho.

"And that's just the gaming alone,because the non-gaming part is significant."

And while Ho still called Packer a "great friend and partner" earlier this month, he made it clear that the business relationship has been cut completely. 

"Despite our positive history with Crown, I made the strategic decision to terminate the joint venture arrangement and allow Melco to pursue Japan alone," Ho said following the final Crown share sale.

Cold pizza 

Domino's Pizza boss Don Meij sells himself as the tech evangelist who will change your pizza experience forever. 

Sure there's the pizza, but that's not the secret ingredient that ensures the pizza maker has traded at earnings multiples that would make a ASX-listed digital darling, like REA, blush. 

There's the iPhone app, GPS pizza-tracking technology, drones, the technology lab at its Brisbane HQ, and data analytics with Google.

"Having taken strategic steps in its partnership with DBi, a Google Analytics Premium Authorised Reseller, Domino's has turned its team goal of unified marketing measurement, holistic insights, and efficient actionability into a day-to-day reality," said the Google press release

But even technology has its limitations. 

Domino's had to admit to the market on Wednesday that its investigation into wage-fraud allegations was taking longer than expected and it now expected the results to be announced as late as December. That would be a six-month delay on its delivery date. 

Not to worry. It's not like Domino's offered investors the ASX equivalent of its famous 20-minute delivery guarantee.

At least the short sellers are happy.

According to market data they are in a feeding frenzy, accounting for as much as 80 per cent of the company's share sales on Monday and Tuesday. And why wouldn't they, the stock has dropped more than $20 since last August. 

Safe as houses 

Award for the most pointless announcement of the day goes to McGrath Ltd's ASX announcement detailing the performance rights being released to its talented executive team including founder John McGrath. 

"The performance rights are subject to certain conditions including the continued employment of the participant with McGrath and performance hurdles set out in the terms of grant including an earnings per share target and relative total shareholder return target," said the ASX release.  

McGrath shares hit a new record low of 57¢ on Wednesday, much less than the $2.10 investors paid when it floated just 18 months ago. 

Follow CBD on Twitter. Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au

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