The Malaysian company behind Resorts World Las Vegas gets a new CEO—the first from outside the founding family

Lionel Lim

Genting Berhad, which operates casinos around the world including Resorts World Las Vegas, is <a href="https://disclosure.bursamalaysia.com/FileAccess/apbursaweb/download?id=155818&amp;name=EA_GA_ATTACHMENTS">shuffling</a> its boardroom.<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



Current CEO <a href="https://www.bursamalaysia.com/market_information/announcements/company_announcement/announcement_details?ann_id=3528904">Lim Kok Thay</a> is stepping down on March 1, and will be replaced by president and chief operating officer <a href="https://www.bursamalaysia.com/market_information/announcements/company_announcement/announcement_details?ann_id=3528903">Tan Kong Han</a>. Lim will remain as executive chair of Genting’s board of directors.



“Tan joined the company in 2007 as its president and COO, assumed the role of director in 2020, and is now stepping into the CEO role as part of a multi-year succession plan,” Lim said in a Genting statement announcing the board changes.



Tan will also leave his position as CEO of Genting Plantations, a position he has held since January 2019.



It’s potentially a major shift for the Malaysian conglomerate. Filings on the Malaysia stock exchange suggest that Tan is not part of the founding Lim family, which has held the chief executive role since the company’s founding.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.bursamalaysia.com/market_information/announcements/company_announcement/announcement_details?ann_id=3528903">filing announcing Tan&#8217;s appointment</a> as CEO notes that he has no ties to current directors or existing major shareholders, which would include the Lim family.&nbsp;



Genting did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for confirmation.



Investors, however, did not seem to be thrilled with the change. Genting&#8217;s shares, which are traded in Kuala Lumpur, dropped 11.8%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What is Genting?</h2>



Lim Goh Tong <a href="https://www.genting.com/corporate_profile/">founded</a> in Genting in 1965, starting with a resort in Genting Highlands, a hill station in the Malaysian state of Pahang. Genting holds Malaysia’s only casino license, granted in 1969, a rare accommodation in the Muslim-majority country.&nbsp;



The group also operates resorts and casinos in Singapore, the U.K., the Bahamas, and the U.S., in cities like Las Vegas, New York, and Miami. It also operates cruise lines under the Resorts World brand.&nbsp;



Genting, No. 54 on Fortune&#8217;s 2024 Southeast Asia 500, also <a href="https://www.genting.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GENT-4th-Grp-Qtrly_Press-Release.pdf">reported</a> its annual results on Thursday. The Malaysian company reported revenue of 27.7 billion Malaysian ringgit ($6.2 billion), a 2% increase driven by leisure and hospitality in Malaysia, Singapore, the U.K. and Egypt. 



In addition to leisure and hospitality, the conglomerate also has interests in plantations, life sciences, and energy.



Outgoing CEO Lim Kok Thay, the son of founder Lim Goh Tong, became a director in 1976, and chairman and CEO in 2007. In a statement, Genting credited the outgoing chief executive with expanding the group’s operations in leisure, oil palm plantations, and energy, and branching out into biotechnology.&nbsp;



A third generation of Lims is already involved in the company. Lim Keong Hui, grandson of the Genting founder, became deputy CEO in early 2019. Sometimes regarded as a possible successor to his father, the youngest Lim will <a href="https://www.bursamalaysia.com/market_information/announcements/company_announcement/announcement_details?ann_id=3528916">now become</a> CEO of Genting Plantations on March 1.&nbsp;</div>

Tan Kong Han, currently CEO of Genting Plantations, becomes CEO of Genting Berhad on Mar. 1 replacing Lim Kok Thay, the founder's son.

F-BreakingNews

Malaysia

Leadership

The Malaysian company behind Resorts World Las Vegas gets a new CEO—the first from outside the founding family | Fortune Asia

Outgoing DBS CEO Piyush Gupta gets a 57% pay bump, reversing a massive cut in 2023

/asia/2025/03/06/dbs-last-year-as-ceo-piyush-gupta-pay-increase/

/asia/2025/02/28/genting-new-ceo-lim-kok-thay-malaysia/

Father-son feud and an alleged ‘attempted coup’ rock one of Singapore’s largest property developers

/asia/2025/02/26/father-son-feud-attempted-coup-rock-cdl-singapore-developer/

DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, is cutting 4,000 temp roles due to AI: ‘For the first time, I’m struggling to create jobs’

/asia/2025/02/25/dbs-singapore-to-cut-temp-jobs-ai-piyush-gupta/

A ‘quite shy’ CEO steps in to lead one of the Philippines’ largest retailers as the country turns a corner on growth

/asia/2025/02/09/robinsons-ceo-stanley-co-philippines-inflation-trump-uncertainty/

Taiwan offers to help firms move production to the U.S., Southeast Asia, or India as Trump threatens tariffs

/asia/2025/02/03/taiwan-help-firms-move-production-us-southeast-asia-india-trump-tariffs/

Fortune Editors

Uncategorized

homepage

Fortune Asia

Finance

Tech

Sasha Rogelberg

Fired NIH workers fear bleak job prospects in the private sector because their research is too specific to be retrofitted: 'No VC is going to fund that'

https://fortune.com/2025/03/11/fired-nih-workers-bleak-jobs-private-sector/?itm_source=parsely-api

Nicholas Gordon

Tesla loses $127 billion in one-day market bloodbath as China car group questions Musk’s pursuit of ‘personal glory’

https://fortune.com/asia/2025/03/11/tesla-shares-drop-china-byd-ev/?itm_source=parsely-api

Chris Morris

Tesla owners offloading their cars over Elon Musk backlash are in for a nasty surprise

https://fortune.com/2025/03/11/tesla-resale-prices-elon-musk-backlash/?itm_source=parsely-api

Sydney Lake

Jamie Dimon says business school grads taking a private equity job while already working at JPMorgan is ‘unethical’

https://fortune.com/article/jamie-dimon-says-grads-taking-private-equity-job-jpmorgan-unethical/?itm_source=parsely-api

Phil Wahba

Here’s why the CEOs of major retailers like Walmart, Gap and Target are sounding so calm about Trump’s tariff standoff

https://fortune.com/2025/03/10/trump-tariffs-retail-ceos-react-soun-calm-walmart-gap-target-home-depot/?itm_source=parsely-api

Ani Freedman

This gastroenterologist says probiotics are 'a waste of money.' Here’s what you should be doing instead

https://fortune.com/well/article/probiotics-bloating-gut-health-fiber-diet/?itm_source=parsely-api