The Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) share price is gaining on the back of news Crown's chair Helen Coonan plans to step down by the end of the month.
Counsel for Crown Michael Borsky broke the news to the Royal Commission into Crown's suitability to hold to Melbourne's casino licence.
It followed an announcement from Crown that the CEO of its Melbourne casino will be leaving his role on 20 August.
Right now, the Crown share price is $9.08, 1.68% higher than its previous close.
Let's take a closer look at the latest news of Crown.
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Coonan on the way out
The final day of the Victorian Royal Commission has been a big one for the Crown share price.
Crown's closing submissions included news Crown's chair plans to step down from her role.
Borsky stated Coonan plans to leave the company as soon as a suitable replacement is found. He said:
[Coonan] will announce her retirement as interim executive chair on all Crown boards as soon as Crown has appointed a new leader… Crown's expectation is that a new leader will be appointed by the 31st of August this year.
He also said that Crown doesn't agree with counsel assisting the commission Adrian Finanzio's views of Coonan's suitability for her role. Borsky said:
Crown accepts that, as current leaders of Crown… their conduct has some relevance to your assessment of Crown's suitability… No conduct by Ms Coonan has been identified by counsel assisting that reflects adversely on her character, honesty, or integrity.
Last month, Finanzio told the commission Coonan wasn't the right person to conduct the reforms needed for Crown to be deemed suitable to run the Melbourne casino. The Crown share price fell 2.6% following Finanzio's comments. He said:
Ms Coonan… cannot be the critical face of the change required at Crownif it is to remain the licensee… If Crown is to retain its licence, it would be open to the commissioner to make a finding that Ms Coonan is not a suitable associate of Crown Melbourne.
Crown share price snapshot
Today's gains haven't been enough to get the Crown share price back in the green.
Right now, the Crown share price is 5.45% lower than it was at the start of 2021. However, it is 4.4% higher than it was this time last year.
