Kirk Kerkorian: The Father of the Las Vegas Mega-resort

Kirk Kerkorian, the ninth-richest man in America, is a self-made billionaire who knows a few things about taking risks in life. The current owner of the MGM Mirage and several other notable properties, he is known as the father of the Las Vegas mega-resort. His story is inspiring to those out there who are unsatisfied working for The Man, but can only dream of what it takes to risk everything and try their hand as a financial speculator and corporate daredevil.

The son of Armenian immigrants, Kerkorian was born in 1917 in Fresno, California. Like many self-made men, he dropped out of high school in the eighth grade to focus on his true dream. In his case, it was a career as a professional boxer. He was talented and driven to succeed, but inevitably it was the world of business that would ultimately consume his interests. He was already making money by doing various part-time jobs by the time he was eight years old.

Like many men of his generation, his life was turned upside down by the Second World War. And like many, he also saw it as his opportunity to earn the cash necessary to fulfill his economic dreams. In what can be described essentially as suicide missions, he delivered war planes to Great Britain across the Atlantic – a job in which only 1 in 4 pilots came out alive. Each mission paid well and he saved nearly all of what he earned to prepare for his future investments. In 1947 he bought Trans International Airlines for $60,000. It was around this time that he discovered the pull of Las Vegas, and began flying clients from Los Angeles to the desert for gambling sessions. This first business venture was hugely successful and in 1968 he sold the company for a $104 million profit. This was his first fortune, and by no means his last.

In the same year, Kerkorian pulled off one of the most successful land speculation purchases in Las Vegas’ history. He bought 80 acres of land just off the strip, a move which many people considered financial suicide. However, he ended up renting that land to the people who would build Caesar’s Palace, and in 1969 he sold the property to them for $9 million.

This episode was merely the start of his financial heyday in Las Vegas. With the money he earned from the sale of his property, Kerkorian bought 82 more acres for $5 million and also the existing Flamingo Hotel. He then launched plans to build the first real mega-resort, which he at first called the International although it would later be renamed and become better known as the original MGM Grand (For, at the same time, he was also closely watching the Hollywood film industry and would eventually acquire the ownership of MGM, which he would own and operate three different times over the years). The scale of his venture was unprecedented in Las Vegas (or anywhere else for that matter) and its tremendous financial success would usher in a new age for Sin City. Massive hotel and resort casino complexes with full-scale entertainment facilities and other non-gaming activities would come to dominate the economic landscape of Las Vegas.

Kerkorian’s estimated net worth is now at a whopping $10 billion. His property, the MGM Mirage, now owns more than half the hotel rooms on the Vegas Strip. He owns nearly 10% of General Motors, which admittedly is not a real boon these days. But, if there is one thing Kerkorian has proven it is his resiliency and shrewdness. He has publicly declared that there is nothing wrong with losing most of your fortune as long as you keep enough to finance your next business venture. It is surely this mentality which has made him such an overwhelming success.

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