Word: earls
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...latest installment in the Planet Hollywood saga could easily be titled Vegas with a Vengeance. The plot: shrugging off two bankruptcies and years of ridicule, a die-hard chain of movie-themed restaurants abandons plans for world domination to seek salvation on the Vegas Strip. The star: Robert Earl, the waggishly underdog CEO, who hopes that by opening the ultimate outlet in a flashy hotel-casino, he can thwart his detractors and restore his reputation...
...easy. As a business, Planet Hollywood turned into the Death Star shortly after going public. But British co-founder Earl won't let go. "I have one desire in my business life," he says, "and that's to put Planet Hollywood back on top." A veteran restaurateur, Earl flits into Manhattan from his Florida home, and between brunch with Puffy, dinner with the Donald and beseeching Lehman Bros. to create a $50 million mezzanine fund, he pauses to reflect on his role as comeback kid. Last June, six months after Planet Hollywood International emerged from Chapter 11: Part 2, Earl...
...when he was still running Hard Rock Cafe, Earl launched Planet Hollywood with the help of celebrity partners, including Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone, who got paid in stock to go to openings and attract free publicity. Star power helped propel the firm to a dotcom-style IPO in 1996 with what even Earl describes as "insane multiples." On paper, Planet was worth some $3.4 billion at its apex--and Earl more than $1 billion. But its stock, which peaked at $32, was delisted just before Planet's first bankruptcy in 1999. The chain, based in Orlando, Fla., had barreled...
...celebrities only showed up for the openings, and the cachet quickly faded," says restaurant consultant Ron Paul. That's why Earl is adding a new mother ship: a Las Vegas resort with 2,567 hotel rooms and a 7,000-seat theater. Much of his $30 million movie-memorabilia collection will be used in the Starwood-run hotel, where guests can opt to sleep on Austin Powers' shagadelic revolving mattress or Sharon Stone's bed from Basic Instinct. ("With ice pick available on request," Earl says...
After 11 years of hosting blues greats such as Al Green and Ronnie Earl, the Winthrop Street locale of the now-famous national chain closed its doors on Sunday...