MGM Grand Will Cut 10% of Its Work Force : Resorts: The restructuring is expected to save $24 million a year in salaries and benefits.

Dogged by lagging profits, the MGM Grand announced Tuesday that it will cut 770 employees--more than 10% of the work force at the world’s largest hotel.

“These are not pleasant steps, because you’re dealing with human beings,” J. Terrence Lanni, chairman of MGM Grand Inc., told a news conference. “It’s a difficult decision, but it is necessary. Obviously, we have to move forward.”

The restructuring is expected to save $24 million a year in salaries and benefits, with several top executives among those cut. In addition, the company said, it hopes to add to the bottom line by leasing three of the hotel’s restaurants to outside operators.

The cutbacks in the work force of 7,350 employees comes after months of planning on ways to maximize profits at the 5,005-room hotel, casino and theme park.

The hotel, which opened in December, 1993, has not been as profitable as expected and is coming off a second-quarter loss.

“We look at this as the beginning of the new MGM,” Lanni said, touting construction of the company’s New York-New York resort across the Strip from the MGM, and a new venture in Australia.

Lanni vowed that as long as he is in charge, “I will never allow us to get in this position again.”

The cuts and management changes came after months of evaluation by a group of 23 mid-level executives and an outside firm, Lanni said. The changes would have been made regardless of the balance sheet, he said.

He said the property was overstaffed and “needed to be right-sized.”

Lanni said the hotel’s multimillion-dollar stage spectacular, “EFX,” is finally clicking after getting off to a rocky start. The costly extravaganza opened months behind schedule as producers sought to work out kinks in the computerized production. Lanni said entertainer Michael Crawford, the show’s star, has agreed to increase the number of weekly shows from the current nine to 12.

He said the company is studying ways to better use the MGM Grand Theme Park, the city’s first and a magnet for the family market now being courted by many Las Vegas resorts. Lanni said he wants to explore ways to use the park for other events late at night, when families are not using the facility.

And he said the resort will continue to be “a major player” in promoting boxing at the 15,200-seat MGM Grand Garden arena. The company signed a multimillion-dollar, six-fight deal with heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson earlier this year. Tyson’s first fight there is scheduled for Aug. 19.

The resort’s employees have been on edge since mid-July, when former MGM Grand Chairman Bob Maxey resigned and Lanni moved up to the top spot. Alex Yemenidjian, a confidant of MGM majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian, was elevated to chief operating officer.

Larry Woolf, chairman of MGM Grand Hotel Inc., a subsidiary of MGM Grand, resigned when Maxey stepped down. By Monday, several more top executives had resigned, including Tom Bruny, director of advertising and publicity, and Dennis Finfrock, who handled events for the Grand Garden.