Morgans Hotel Group, which operates such boutique chic hotels as the Modrian SoHo and the Royalton, has named boardmember Michael Gross CEO. The Group also named billionaire investor Ron Burkle to its board. Gross, an executive at Yucaipa, Burkle's investment company, joined Morgans' Board in October 2009.
Yucaipa is Morgans' largest shareholder. Morgans' chairman David Hamamoto will become executive chairman, while Jason Taubman Kalisman, founding member of the company's largest shareholder, OTK Associates, will join the board, the company said.
Morgans has fallen under hard times of late, struggling under a debt load of $660 million, about 2.5 times its market capitalization (share price multipled by outstanding shares).