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Kirk Kerkorian
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Kirk Kerkorian
Vegas Interactive Map
Original MGM Grand Vegas
Kerkorian's Vegas Start
Known as one of the most important figures in shaping Las Vegas, Kirk Kerkorian made his first visit to Las Vegas in 1944 as a Cessna pilot. In 1962, Kerkorian bought 80 acres in Las Vegas, across The Strip from the Flamingo, for $960,000. This purchase led to the building of Caesars Palace, which rented the land from Kerkorian; the rent and eventual sale of the land to Caesars in 1968 made Kerkorian $9 million!
In 1967, he bought 82 acres of land on Paradise Road in Las Vegas for $5 million. With architect Martin Stern, he built the International Hotel, which at the time was the largest hotel in the world.
The first two performers to appear at the hotel's enormous Showroom Internationale were Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley. Presley brought in some 4,200 customers (and potential gamblers), every day, for 30 days straight, breaking in the process all attendance records in the city's history.
Kerkorian's International Leisure also bought the Flamingo Hotel (which later sold the Flamingo to the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1970). The International Hotel is known today as the Las Vegas Hilton. Until about 2000, the Flamingo was known as the Flamingo Hilton.
MGM Grand History
In 1973, Kirk Kerkorian purchased MGM, the famous movie studio. Again with the architect Martin Stern, Kerkorian and MGM opened the original MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, which was the largest hotel in the world at the time it was finished.
On November 21, 1980, the original MGM Grand Las Vegas burned in a fire that was one of the worst disasters in Las Vegas history. The Las Vegas 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. Amazingly, the MGM Grand Las Vegas reopened after only 8 months.
Almost three months after the MGM fire, the Las Vegas Hilton caught fire, killing eight people.
In 1986, Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand hotels in Las Vegas and Reno for $594 million to Bally. Spun off from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM Mirage owns and operates several properties, including the Bellagio, the current MGM Grand resort complex (where the Marina Hotel once stood), The Mirage, Treasure Island, the New York-New York, and what was once the Boardwalk in Las Vegas. They also bought the Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Circus Circus and Excalibur on the Las Vegas Strip.
Kerkorian Present Day
A second-generation Armenian - his father came to America a century ago - Kerkorian has been a generous benefactor of his ancestral home, building roads and restoring an opera house. Armenians have tried to name an avenue or airport after him, but according to the country's US ambassador, Kerkorian does not want it.
Mr. Kirk Kerkorian is the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director and stockholder of Tracinda Corp. He is the largest shareholder of General Motors.
Kerkorian had a professional relationship with MGM Studios and its predecessors for over 25 years. He has been a Director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. since October 1996 and Member of Executive Committee. Mr. Kerkorian has been a Director of MGM Mirage since 1987.
His holding company, the Tracinda Corporation, said in a regulatory filing that he intended to enter into negotiations with MGM Mirage to buy the Bellagio, a premier Las Vegas casino-hotel, and also the partly built CityCenter, another Las Vegas property that many consider the most expensive privately financed project in American history. The final price tag for the two properties, analysts said, could exceed $12 billion.
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Kirk Kerkorian
The builder and operator of three consecutive 'world's largest hotels', Kirk Kerkorian holds the title as the longest reigning King of Las Vegas.
In 1969, Kerkorian appointed James T. Aubrey, Jr. MGM's president. Aubrey downsized the struggling MGM and sold off massive amounts of historical memorabilia, including Dorothy's ruby slippers (from The Wizard of Oz). Kerkorian sold MGM's distribution system in 1973, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operation of the studio. 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 of United Artists in 1981. In 1986 he sold the studios to Ted Turner. Turner kept ownership of the combined MGM/UA for 74 days. Both studios had huge debts and Turner simply could not afford to keep them under those circumstances; to recoup his investment, he sold all of United Artists and the MGM trademark back to Kerkorian. The studio lot was sold to Lorimar-Telepictures, which was later acquired by Warner Bros.; in 1990, the lot was sold to Sony Corporation's Columbia TriStar Pictures in exchange for the half of Warner's lot they'd rented since the 1970s. Also in 1990, the MGM studio was purchased by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, but Parretti defaulted on the loans he'd used to buy the studio and sold the studio back to Kerkorian in 1996. In 2005 Kerkorian sold MGM once more to a consortium led by Sony. He retains a 55% stake in MGM Mirage. On 22 November 2006 Kerkorian's Tracinda investment corporation offered to buy 15 million shares of MGM Mirage to increase his stake in the gambling giant to 61.7% from 56.3%, if approved.
