Billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, who built Las Vegas hotels
and bought and sold MGM three times, has died. He was 98.
Mr. Kerkorian died Monday night, said his investment company
Tracinda Corp.
Though he shunned executive titles and avoided public
appearances throughout his career, Mr. Kerkorian remained an active
investor into his 90s. But he never managed his enterprises,
preferring to leave operational details up to a cadre of loyal
lieutenants.
"He doesn't manage businesses—he hires management teams," had
said James Murren, a former Deutsche Bank equity analyst who was
groomed by Mr. Kerkorian and eventually rose to chairman and chief
executive of MGM Resorts International, one of the many companies
in which Mr. Kerkorian invested.
At times, he acted on seemingly arbitrary information. After
seeing that the grounds of the Bellagio casino were as well
maintained where customers couldn't see them as in front—a detail
he believed suggested how well-run the company was—he successfully
forced his chief rival, casino mogul Steve Wynn, to sell him Mirage
Resorts, which had developed Bellagio. Though he attempted to fight
off the bid, Mr. Wynn later insisted that he wanted to sell.
Mr. Kerkorian was known for doing deals on a word of honor. In a
negotiation that lasted about eight minutes, he agreed to sell the
Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas to Phil Ruffin for about $775
million, says Mr. Murren, sealing the deal with a handshake.
Born in Fresno, Calif., the high-school dropout and onetime
welterweight boxer rose from working as a civilian transport pilot
in World War II to build a financial empire that included
investments in the casinos, hotels, as well as Chrysler, Ford Motor
and General Motors.
Enamored with the film, gambling and automotive industries, Mr.
Kerkorian bought and sold the MGM film studio three times. He
attempted a hostile takeover of Chrysler Corp. in the 1990s. He was
known for aggressively chasing deals, but rarely looking backward
when they went sour. In recent years, as Las Vegas' fortunes fell
in the weak economy, his wealth fluxed from $16 billion in 2008 to
$3.3 billion in March 2013, according to Forbes.
Mr. Kerkorian was subsumed in scandal after he married Lisa
Bonder, a tennis player 48 years his junior. Their monthlong
marriage in 1999 legitimized a baby, named Kira Kerkorian, who was
later proven to be the biological daughter of another wealthy Los
Angeles resident, Steve Bing. As Ms. Bonder later sued Mr.
Kerkorian to increase his $50,000-a-month child support, global
headlines announced details of the child's extravagant birthday
parties and lifestyle.
Born June 6, 1917, to Armenian immigrant parents, Mr. Kerkorian
became a national hero in Armenia both for his success and for his
donations for roads, schools and other infrastructure there through
his charitable arm, the Lincy Foundation. The foundation is named
for his two eldest daughters, Tracy and Linda, as was his Beverly
Hills-based business enterprise, Tracinda Corp.
Intensely private, Mr. Kerkorian refused to allow projects
funded by his charitable donations to be named for him. He also
declined to take executive roles at the companies he controlled or
invested in. At the MGM International casino company, though others
held the title of chairman, Mr. Kerkorian was seen as the ultimate
authority at the company. He remained active at board meetings
until 2011, when he resigned from MGM's board.
Write to Christina Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com
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