Houston Billionaire Says Laying Off 45,000 Employees Was a ‘Favor’
Tilman Fertitta said he was laying employees off so they could access their unemployment benefits faster.
Monica Schipper/Getty
Billionaire restaurateur Tilman Fertitta told Fox’s Brian Kilmeade on Saturday that he had laid off 45,000 workers as a “favor” so they could apply more quickly for unemployment benefits. Fertitta is the 44th-richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated by Forbes to be $4.8 billion. The owner of the Houston Rockets and proprietor of Golden Nugget Casinos and the Landry’s portfolio of restaurant appeared on Laura Ingraham’s popular show to call for a reopening of the economy in May. With his businesses shut down, he said, “You’re doing your people a favor if you get them furloughed first, because they’re the first to the unemployment line after the severance that you give them. It’s a trick that I learned many years ago.” He called the layoffs “tremendously unfortunate.”
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