NATION BRAND CONFERENCE

Mitch Garber

Chairman

Cirque du Soleil

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Mitch Garber is a Canadian born attorney, business executive, and philanthropist. Since 2015, he has served as the Chairman of Cirque du Soleil. He became involved through his friendship with Cirque du Soleil creator Guy Laliberte, and participated in the TPG-led buyout of Cirque in 2016. 

 

Mr. Garber is also CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), leading all the company divisions, which include the World Series of Poker and regulated online real money gaming. Mr. Garber joined Caesars Entertainment in late 2008 and in 2009 launched Caesars Interactive Entertainment as the CEO. The Caesars Entertainment Board handpicked him to lead the interactive initiative. 

 

Mr. Garber also is the President and CEO of Caesars Acquisition Company (CAC); CAC controls CIE as well as Las Vegas strip casino hotels, Planet Hollywood, Bally’s, the Cromwell, the LINQ, and Harrah’s New Orleans, in addition to the Horseshoe casino in Baltimore. Mr. Garber has focused on strengthening the World Series of Poker brand and expanding its presence on ESPN and through new land-based events in the Pacific Rim and the U.S. He also diversified the company through the acquisition of Playtika, an Israeli firm that pioneered free-to-play games on social networks and mobile platforms.

 

In August 2016, Caesars Interactive announced that it was selling the Playtika social gaming business to Chinese company Giant Interactive for $4.4 billion in cash (the acquiring consortium included Giant Investment, Yunfeng Capital, the private equity firm founded by Jack Ma, and several other investment groups). Having acquired Playtika in 2011 for approximately $100 million, Mr. Garber made it one of the most successful acquisitions in the social and mobile games industry, returning approximately 44x the investment. As of August 8, 2016, it was the third-largest sale in the history of Israel. 

 

Mr. Garber has successfully led companies on the Nasdaq, Toronto, and London stock exchanges as well as private companies controlled by private equity firms TPG and Apollo. He holds an undergraduate degree from McGill (1986) and a law degree from the University of Ottawa.