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Kirk Kerkorian

Kirk Kerkorian

Born Kerkor Kerkorian in Fresno, CA, on June, 6, Kerkor (or 'Kirk', as he came to be known) was the son of Armenian immigrant parents. Not much of a student growing up, Kerkorian dropped out of school after the eighth grade to become a boxer. Under the tutelage of his older brother, Nish, (himself a former pro boxer), Kerkorian became a better-than-average pugilist himself and won a number of amateur matches under the alliterative moniker, "Rifle Right" Kerkorian. Soon after winning the Pacific amateur welterweight title, Kerkorian briefly considered going pro, but thought better of it after getting a stable job installing wall furnaces.In his early twenties, Kerkorian stumbled onto a newfound passion: flying. In the late 1930's, Kerkorian lied about his education and entered the Morton Air Academy in Blythe, CA. There, he learned to fly airplanes and earned his piloting license. Earning the rank of lieutenant during World War II, Kerkorian flew daredevil missions for the British Royal Air Force as part of the Ferry Command, delivering unarmed Canadian bombers to European bases. After the war ended, Kerkorian continued his career as a soldier of fortune, scouring the globe for surplus planes (some of which were less than airworthy) and transporting them himself to the highest bidder.Well on his way to making his first fortune, Kerkorian made a fateful business trip in the mid-1940's that would have major and lasting repercussions. With his military service completed, Kerkorian purchased his own plane - a single-engine Cessna - for $5,000. Using it to train pilots during the week, Kerkorian also used the same plane to fly private charters on the weekends. It was in this capacity that Kerkorian made his first trip to Las Vegas. Arriving in 1945, Kerkorian instantly fell in love with the neon-lit hustle and bustle of the city and decided to make it his home. Unfortunately, Kerkorian's infatuation with the city also led to him becoming a heavy gambler. Well known as a high roller during the '40s and '50s, Kerkorian gained the nickname "the Perry Como of craps" for his cool, unruffled demeanor at the table. Though often a winner, Kerkorian was just as often a loser, sometimes losing upwards of $50,000 to $80,000 per night. Kerkorian eventually quit gambling entirely - but could not quit Las Vegas. Returning to what he knew best, Kerkorian sank his entire life savings into the purchase of a small air-charter service called TransInternational Air. By the time Kerkorian sold the airline to Trans-America Corporation in 1968, the $60,000 investment had swelled into an asset worth over $100 million. After such a successful business venture, most would have been content to call it a day and enjoy the rest of their lives, but for Kerkorian, it was only the beginning. In 1962, Kerkorian pulled off one of the most successful land speculations in Las Vegas history by purchasing an 80 acre lot of real estate located directly across the strip from the world-famous Flamingo Hotel and Casino. This land, which Kerkorian rented to land developers, eventually became the site of the famed Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino. After six profitable years as the casino's landlord, Kerkorian sold the property outright to Caesars for a cool $9 million. With those funds, Kerkorian bought another lot on Las Vegas' Paradise Road and built the International Hotel in 1968, the largest hotel in the world in its time. Kerkorian's willingness to spend vast sums of money to bring in big name talent proved to be a stroke of genius. The International made a huge splash by hiring such topliners as Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand to inaugurate its opening.At around the same time he was making his splash in Las Vegas, Kerkorian was also studying the Hollywood film industry. In 1969, Kerkorian began buying stock in the ailing MGM film studio. Once the undisputed big dog during the Hollywood's Golden Age, the venerated studio had since fallen on hard times. As the studio's new owner, Kerkorian made the controversial decision to massively downsize studio personnel, laying off hundreds of employees en masse. If that did not make him unpopular enough, Kerkorian next earned the ire of film fans the world over by selling off large amounts of historical movie memorabilia (most notably, Dorothy's ruby slippers from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz"). Kerkorian then sold MGM's distribution system in 1973, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operations of the studio.In 1981, Kerkorian bought the revered United Artists movie studio and merged it with MGM to form MGM/UA. While both studios' glory days had long since passed, the richness of their combined history was undeniable, as was the value of their priceless film library. In 1986, Kerkorian sold MGM/UA to media mogul Ted Turner in what many called the "deal of the century." While many analysts initially believed that Turner had gotten the better end of the bargain, Kerkorian defied them once again when, just two and a half months later, the over-leveraged Turner was forced to sell the studios back to Kerkorian. In 1990, the savvy Kerkorian sold the studio lot to Warner Bros./Lorimar, but kept the highly recognized MGM trademark - Leo the Lion - for himself.Over the next two decades, Kerkorian remained content with his reputation as a mysterious power broker ruling from the outskirts of Tinseltown. A detached, yet omnipresent force, Kerkorian's low-key approach to executive management helped keep his name out of the trades and afforded Kerkorian a greater measure of privacy - a situation which seemed to suit both him and the Hollywood establishment just fine.In 2002, however, Kerkorian's calculated efforts to remain behind the scenes came to a crashing halt, when he became embroiled in a messy and high-profile divorce case against his third wife, Lisa Bonder. In August of 2006, The Los Angeles Times reported that Kerkorian's longtime lawyer, Terry Christensen, was being sued by Bonder for his alleged connections to flamboyant celebrity private eye, Anthony Pellicano, a.k.a. the "P.I. to the Stars." Feared for his ruthless tactics and knowledge of many dirty secrets, Pellicano had built a formidable reputation for his ability to dig up dirt and intimidate people. Bonder's attorneys alleged that Kerkorian's lawyers hired Pellicano to illegally wiretap telephone calls between her and her ex-husband in order to gain a tactical advantage in their bitter divorce proceedings. Unbeknownst to all, however, Pellicano had been the subject of a three-year-long FBI investigation. In the summer of 2006, Pellicano was indicted on 110 charges in federal court for a host of crimes, including racketeering, wiretapping, identity theft, and witness tampering. Among the many casualties from Pellicano's unceremonious fall was Kerkorian's attorney, Terry N. Christensen, who was also indicted on wiretapping charges.In November of 2006, Kerkorian returned to the financial headlines when he sold some 28 million shares of his stake in General Motors. Previously the largest single stakeholder on GM's board, Kerkorian used the proceeds (conservatively estimated to have been around $2 billion) to buy more stock in the MGM Mirage, increasing his stake in the casino/resort to about 62 percent, up from 56.3 percent. Kirk Kerkorian passed away on 6/15/2015 at the age of 98.
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