Kirk Kerkorian | |
|---|---|
| Քըրք Քըրքորեան | |
 Kirk Kerkorian in 1973 | |
| Born | Kerkor Kerkorian (1917-06-06)June 6, 1917 Fresno, California, U.S. |
| Died | June 15, 2015(2015-06-15) (aged 98) |
| Resting place | Inglewood Park Cemetery |
| Citizenship |
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| Years active | 1940–2015 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | National Hero of Armenia (2004)[1] |
Kerkor"Kirk" Kerkorian (Armenian:Քըրք Քըրքորեան; June 6, 1917 – June 15, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the president and CEO ofTracinda Corporation, his private holding company based inBeverly Hills, California. Kerkorian was one of the important figures in the shaping ofLas Vegas and, with architectMartin Stern Jr.,[2] is described as the "father of themega-resort".[3] He built the world's largest hotel in Las Vegas three times:[4] theInternational Hotel (opened in 1969), the originalMGM Grand Hotel (1973) and the currentMGM Grand (1993).[5] He purchased theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio in 1969.
Kerkorian, who was born to Armenian immigrants, provided over $1 billion for charity inArmenia through his Lincy Foundation, which was established in 1989 and particularly focused on helping to rebuild northern Armenia after the1988 earthquake.[6] Kerkorian also provided money to ensure that a film based on the history of theArmenian genocide would be made. The resulting film, calledThe Promise,[3] premiered in April 2017 in the United States. In 2000Time magazine named him the 10th largest donor in the US.[7] Kerkorian was declared anhonorary citizen of Armenia.[8] He was bestowed the title ofNational Hero of Armenia, the highest state award.[1]
Kirk Kerkorian[9] was born on June 6, 1917, inFresno, California, toArmenian parents who escaped present-dayTurkey via cattle boat during theArmenian Genocide.[10][11] Armenian was his first language and he "didn't learn the English language until he hit the streets."[4] His family moved to Los Angeles following thedepression of 1920–21.[4] Dropping out of school in eighth grade, Kerkorian became a fairly skilledamateur boxer under the tutelage of his older brother Nish Kerkorian, fighting under the name "Rifle Right Kerkorian" to win the Pacific amateur welterweight championship. Kirk Kerkorian also had an older sister, Rose Kerkorian.[12]
Sensing the onset ofWorld War II, and not wanting to join theinfantry, Kerkorian learned to fly at theHappy Bottom Riding Club in theMojave Desert—adjacent to theUnited States Army Air Corps's Muroc Field, nowEdwards Air Force Base. In exchange for flying lessons from pioneer aviatorPancho Barnes, he agreed to milk and look after her cattle.
On gaining his commercial pilot's certificate in six months, Kerkorian learned that the BritishRoyal Air Force was ferrying Canadian-builtde Havilland Mosquitos over theNorth Atlantic toScotland. The Mosquito's fuel tank carried enough fuel for 1,400 miles (2,300 km), while the trip directly was 2,200 miles (3,500 km). Rather than take the saferMontreal–Labrador–Greenland–Iceland–Scotland route (although, going further north could mean the wings icing, and the plane crashing), Kerkorian preferred the direct "Iceland Wave" route, which blew the planes at jet-speed to Europe—but it was not constant, and could meanditching. The fee was $1,000 per flight. Although accounts claim the risk was that one in four planes failed to make it,[13] the actual rate was closer to one inforty.[14] In May 1944, Kerkorian and hisWing CommanderJohn de Lacy Wooldridge rode the wave and broke the old crossing record. Wooldridge got to Scotland in six hours, 46 minutes; Kerkorian, in seven hours, nine minutes. In two and a half years withRAF Ferry Command, Kerkorian delivered 33 planes, logged thousands of hours, traveled to four continents and flew his first four-engine plane.
After the war, having saved most of his wages, Kerkorian spent $5,000 on aCessna. He worked as a general aviation pilot and made his first visit to Las Vegas in 1944.
After World War II, Kerkorian and his sister started a partnership to trade aircraft. He made headlines when in 1946, while he was flying aDC-3 from Hawaii to the mainland, his crew issued amayday when the ferry tank system malfunctioned and the engines quit. Luckily they were able to fix the issue and restart the engines. In 1948, his partnership boughtLos Angeles Air Service (LAAS), a so-calledirregular air carrier (a carrier started without formal government approval). In the 1950s, LAAS was at least as much a vehicle for aircraft trading as it was an operating airline, going significant periods without operations. Kerkorian developed a reputation as an astute aircraft trader. In 1960, Kerkorian changed the name of LAAS to Trans International Airlines (TIA) and in 1962 bought aDouglas DC-8 jet, putting it immediately to work on a military charter contract. He was the first charter operator to move to jets, which he later said "was the real breakthrough". Thereafter, TIA grew strongly, as did its profitability. In 1962, he also sold TIA toStudebaker, then seeking to diversify, with Kerkorian left in charge. Two years later, he bought TIA back from Studebaker for a similar amount, despite the airline being larger and more profitable. In 1968, he sold TIA toTransamerica Corporation, an insurance company, with his share being $104 million, his first fortune.
Kerkorian then invested inWestern Airlines, building up a large stake from 1968 to 1970 and taking control of the board. He remained a major power at Western until 1976, when he sold his remaining stock back to the company. In 1987, MGM funded the launch ofMGM Grand Air, an all-premium class airline that flew transcontinental routes.[15]
In 1962, Kerkorian bought 80 acres (32 ha) inLas Vegas, across theLas Vegas Strip from the Flamingo for $960,000. This purchase led to the building ofCaesars Palace, which rented the land from Kerkorian. The rent and eventual sale of the land to Caesars in 1968 made Kerkorian $9 million ($70 million today).[16]
In 1967, he bought 82 acres (33 ha) of land on Paradise Road in Las Vegas for $5 million and, with architectMartin Stern Jr.,[17] built theInternational Hotel, which at the time was the largest hotel in the world. The first two performers to appear at the hotel's enormousShowroom Internationale wereBarbra Streisand andElvis Presley. Presley brought in some 4,200 customers (and potential gamblers) every day for 30 days straight, in the process breaking all attendance records in the county's history. Kerkorian's International Leisure also bought theFlamingo Hotel; eventually, both hotels were sold to theHilton Hotels Corporation and were renamed theLas Vegas Hilton and theFlamingo Hilton, respectively.
After he purchased theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio in 1969, Kerkorian (with architect Martin Stern Jr.) opened the originalMGM Grand Hotel and Casino, larger than theEmpire State Building[18] and the largest hotel in the world at the time it was finished. On November 21, 1980, the originalMGM Grand burned in a fire that was one of the worst disasters in Las Vegas history. The Clark County Fire Department reported 84 deaths in the fire; there were 87 deaths total, including three which occurred later as a result of injuries sustained in the fire. After only 8 months the MGM Grand reopened. Almost three months after the MGM fire, theLas Vegas Hilton caught fire, killing eight people.
In 1986, Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand hotels in Las Vegas andReno for $594 million toBally Manufacturing. The Las Vegas property was subsequently renamedBally's. Spun off fromMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,MGM Resorts International owns and operates several properties, including the currentMGM Grand, theBellagio, theNew York-New York,Mandalay Bay,Luxor,Excalibur,Park MGM, theCosmopolitan and theCityCenter complex in Las Vegas.
MGM sold itsTreasure Island Hotel and Casino property to billionaire and formerNew Frontier ownerPhil Ruffin for $750 million.[19]
In 1969, Kerkorian appointedJames Thomas Aubrey Jr. as president of MGM.[20] Aubrey downsized the struggling MGM and sold off massive amounts of historical memorabilia, includingDorothy'sruby slippers from the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz, the majority of MGM's backlots in Culver City and overseas operations such as the British MGM studio at Borehamwood. Kerkorian sold MGM's distribution system in 1973, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operation of MGM. He also owned minority interest inColumbia Pictures but his holdings were thwarted by theJustice Department who filed anantitrust suit due to his owning stock in two studios.[21] In 1979, Kerkorian issued a statement claiming that MGM was now primarily a hotel company; however, he also managed to expand the overall film library and production system with the purchase ofUnited Artists (UA) fromTransamerica in 1981, becoming MGM/UA Entertainment Company. In March 1986, he sold MGM toTed Turner.[22] After the purchase was made, Turner sold the UA subsidiary back to Kerkorian.[23][24]
Turner kept ownership of MGM from March 25 to August 26, 1986. He racked up huge debts and Turner simply could not afford to keep MGM under those circumstances. To recoup his investment, Turner sold the production/distribution assets and trademarks of MGM (including its post-April 1986 libraries) to UA while retaining the pre-May 1986 MGM library,Associated Artists Productions (the pre-1950Warner Bros. Pictures library andFleischer Studios/Famous StudiosPopeye cartoons) andRKO Radio Pictures libraries, as well asGilligan's Island and its animated spin-offsThe New Adventures of Gilligan andGilligan's Planet.[22][25] TheMGM studio complex was sold toLorimar-Telepictures, which was later acquired by Warner Bros.; in 1990, the lot was sold toSony Corporation'sColumbia Pictures Entertainment in exchange for the half of Warner Bros.' lot that it had rented since 1972. Also in 1990, the MGM film company was purchased by Italian financierGiancarlo Parretti, who then merged the formerCannon with the MGM purchase to create the short-livedMGM-Pathé Communications. Parretti defaulted on the loans he had used to buy MGM, leaving MGM in the hands of the French bank,Crédit Lyonnais. Crédit Lyonnais invested significant sums to revive the moribund company and eventually sold it back to Kerkorian in 1996. Kerkorian soon expanded MGM, purchasingOrion Pictures,The Samuel Goldwyn Company andMotion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA) fromJohn Kluge'sMetromedia in 1997, and bought the pre-April 1996PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library in 1999 from its parentPhilips, which was in the process of sellingPolyGram toSeagram.
In 2005, Kerkorian sold MGM once more to a consortium led by Sony. He retained a 55% stake in MGM Mirage.[26]
On November 22, 2006, Kerkorian's Tracinda investment corporation offered to buy 15 million shares of MGM Mirage to increase his stake in the gambling giant from 56.3% to 61.7%, if approved.[27]
In May 2009, following the completion of a $1 billion stock offering by MGM Mirage, Kerkorian and Tracinda lost their majority ownership of the gaming company, dropping from 53.8% to 39% and even after pledging to purchase 10% of the new stock offering they now remain minority owners.[28][29]
Kerkorian had an on-again/off-again relationship with the American auto industry. His involvement began in 1995 when with the assistance of retired Chrysler chairman and CEOLee Iacocca, Kerkorian staged a takeover attempt of theChrysler Corporation. Chrysler's management treated the takeover as hostile, and after a lengthy battle, Kerkorian canceled his plans and sold his Chrysler stake in 1996. As part of the settlement, Iacocca was placed under a gag order forbidding him from discussing Chrysler in public or print for five years. Two years later, Chrysler management agreed to be acquired by German automakerDaimler-Benz.[30] Kerkorian always drove an American vehicle, including a Ford Taurus and Jeep Cherokee.[31]
Kerkorian once owned 9.9% ofGeneral Motors (GM). According to press accounts from June 30, 2006, Kerkorian suggested thatRenault acquired a 20% stake in GM to rescue GM from itself. A letter from Tracinda toRick Wagoner was released to the public,[32] to pressure GM's executive hierarchy,[33] but talks failed.[34] On November 22, 2006, Kerkorian sold 14 million shares of his GM stake (it is speculated that this action was due to GM's rejection of Renault and Nissan's bids for stakes in the company as both of these bids were strongly supported by Kerkorian); the sale resulted in GM's share price falling 4.1% from its November 20 price, although it remained above $30/share.[35] The sale lowered Kerkorian's holding to around 7% of GM. On November 30, 2006, Tracinda said it had agreed to sell another 14 million shares of GM, cutting Kerkorian's stake to half of what it had been earlier that year.[36] By the end of November 2006, he had sold substantially all of his remaining GM shares.[37] After Kerkorian sold, GM lost more than 90% of its value, falling as low as $1/share by May 2009,[38] and filed bankruptcy on June 1, 2009.[39]
On April 5, 2007, Kirk Kerkorian made a $4.58 billion bid for theChrysler Group, the U.S. arm ofDaimler-Chrysler. After Daimler-Chrysler announced they were interested in selling the Chrysler division on February 14, large investors such asCerberus Capital Management,The Blackstone Group andMagna International each announced intentions to bid on the company. Kerkorian's bid, while not expected, was not surprising given his long involvement in the U.S. automobile industry. During the bidding process, he sought the aid of his close associateJerome York who was a former CFO at both Chrysler andIBM. On May 14, 2007, 80% of the Chrysler arm of Daimler-Chrysler was sold to Cerberus for $7.4 billion.
Kerkorian began buyingFord Motor Company stock in April 2008, and spent about $1 billion to accumulate a 6% stake in the automaker. By October 2008, the investment had lost two-thirds of its value, and he began selling. Tracinda explained, "In light of current economic and market conditions, it sees unique value in the gaming and hospitality and oil and gas industries and has, therefore, decided to reallocate its resources and to focus on those industries."[40]
On October 21, Tracinda sold the 7.3 million Ford shares at an average price of $2.43, and said it planned to cut further its existing 6.1 percent stake in Ford, for a potential total loss of more than half a billion dollars.[41] Kerkorian sold his remaining stake in Ford on December 29, 2008.[42]
Kerkorian's net worth in 2008 was $16 billion according toForbes magazine, making him the 41st richest person in the world and the richest person in California at that time.[43] By 2011, Kerkorian was among those hardest hit by the stock market recession as his net worth tumbled to $3.2 billion. In 2013, he was listed as the 412th richest person with a net worth of $3.9 billion.[44]
Kerkorian was an "intensely private person".[45] He almost never gave interviews and seldom appeared in public. "Kerkorian rarely attended board meetings and never gave speeches. He was shy, but was a tough negotiator. Those who knew him describe him not as a Hughesian hermit, but as a gentle, gracious, normal guy."[4]
Kerkorian was an avidtennis player, played in tournaments, associated with other players like Lornie Kuhle, and routinely played withAlex Yemenidjian, a former MGM executive, and former owner of theTropicana Las Vegas resort. He had a penchant for expensive clothes (especially custom-made outfits by Italian designerBrioni), but drove relatively inexpensive vehicles, such as aPontiac Firebird,Jeep Grand Cherokee and aFord Taurus.[46]
Kerkorian died inBeverly Hills, California, on June 15, 2015, nine days after his 98th birthday.[47][48] He is buried atInglewood Park Cemetery inInglewood, California, near Los Angeles.[49]
Kerkorian was married four times, first to Hilda Schmidt from 1942 to 1952.[30] His next marriage, to Jean Maree Hardy, lasted from 1954 to 1984. The two had met at theThunderbird resort in Las Vegas. Hardy, a dancer from England, traveled the world instructing dance troupes. They met and fell in love while she was sent to check opportunities to choreograph a performance in Las Vegas. The marriage produced Kerkorian's two daughters, Tracy and Linda, whose names serve as aportmanteau for Kerkorian's personal holding company, Tracinda Corporation, and his charitable organization, the Lincy Foundation.[30] Although divorced, they remained close friends and confidants.
Kerkorian's short-lived third marriage (1999) was to professional tennis playerLisa Bonder, 48 years his junior, which lasted only one month. The two had signed aprenuptial agreement before marrying. Kerkorian subsequently was involved in a breach of privacy suit filed against him bySteve Bing. Kerkorian claimed Bing was the father of Bonder's daughter, an allegation which was later confirmed byDNA paternity testing. On August 10, 2006, theLos Angeles Times reported that Kerkorian's attorneys were being sued by Bonder because of their connection to former high-profile private investigatorAnthony Pellicano, who in 2008 began serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for running a wiretapping scheme. Bonder's attorney alleged that Kerkorian's lawyers hired Pellicano to wiretap telephone calls between him and Kerkorian's ex-wife in order to gain a tactical advantage in the divorce proceedings, an allegation that was later proven true.[50] Pellicano also took a strand of Bing's useddental floss (surreptitiously acquired from rubbish) and used it to prove that it was Bing and not Kerkorian who fathered Bonder's daughter. Attorney Terry Christensen was subsequently convicted ofracketeering for hiring Pellicano to tap Bonder's phone, and received a three-year prison sentence that was confirmed on appeal.[51]
Kerkorian's short-lived fourth marriage (2014) was to Una Davis, born in 1966. The marriage lasted only 57 days and divorce proceedings were underway when Kerkorian died on June 15, 2015.[52]
Kerkorian was active in philanthropy through his charitable foundation, The Lincy Foundation, named after his daughters, Linda and Tracy. The foundation reportedly donated more than $1 billion,[53] though Kerkorian never allowed anything to be named in his honor. The foundation covered half of the cost of an 80-kilometer highway in Armenia. Over the next decade, Kerkorian financed more than $200 million of infrastructure projects in Armenia, including $60 million to the reconstruction of schools and streets[54] and the renovation of many museums, theaters and concert halls.
The Lincy Foundation was dissolved in 2011 after 22 years of charitable activities[55] after dispensing its last $200 million toUniversity of California, Los Angeles. Half was earmarked for medical research, scholarships and other projects[56] while the other half was earmarked to create the "Dream Fund" for charitable causes around the country.[57]
Most of the $2 billion estate was left to charity, with a three-person committee left to distribute the funds within three years.[58] In December 2018, the estate settled with his 4th wife for $12.5 million, along with $10 million and $50 million for two philanthropic foundations, advised by his 4th wife.[52]
Armenia issued a Kirk Kerkorianstamp in 2017. The city ofGyumri unveiled a statue of Kerkorian in 2018.[59]
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