HE WAS one of the great dealmaker capitalists of the past century. He bought and sold the MGM studios three times. He did more than anyone else to create the neon-lit fantasy land that is Las Vegas. He tried to buy Chrysler, and at one point was a big shareholder in Ford and General Motors. Kirk Kerkorian accumulated all the accoutrements of the mogul lifestyle: a lavish estate in Beverly Hills, friendships with Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant, three wives and a legendary divorce battle. (The third Mrs Kerkorian, who only stuck around for a month, tried to sue him for $320,000 a month in alimony and child support until it turned out that the child was the product of a liaison with a rival tycoon, Steve Bing.) Yet Mr Kerkorian was a very private man: he shunned the Hollywood social scene, and only saw the films he financed when they reached the cinema. After he hit 50, he focused obsessively on his tennis.
He was as self-made as you can get: the son of an Armenian immigrant farmer, he moved home at least 20 times as a child, started bringing in income at the age of nine, got sent to reform school for punching a teacher’s son and made a living as a boxer...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1JlsywI
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