Kirk Kerkorian: Building Las Vegas

Kirk Kerkorian turned $12,000 in wartime savings into a $16 billion empire. He built the largest hotels in the world, bought and sold MGM three times, and reshaped Las Vegas more than any single person in history. Almost nobody knew his name. He never gave interviews. He never wrote a memoir. He let his deals do the talking. His biographer called him one of the least known of America's richest men. I spent months inside this story. A 1969 Fortune cover story, decades of Forbes investigations, his biography by William Rempel, and a collection of industry profiles spanning his entire career. Here's what most people miss about Kirk Kerkorian. He wasn't a gambler. He was the most calculated risk-taker in American business history. Every bet had a back door. If you're in private equity, real estate, or building anything that requires raising capital, this one's for you. collateral.com (00:00) The Calculated Gambler (02:49) The Outsider's Origin, 1917–1944 (06:21) The Plane Trader, 1945–1962 (09:10) The Airline Gambit, 1962–1968 (12:23) Vegas Before Vegas, 1962–1969 (16:02) The MGM Raid, 1969–1973 (20:02) The Asset Shuffler, 1973–1990 (23:32) The Chrysler Play, 1990–1998 (26:58) The Mirage Acquisition, 2000–2007 (29:47) The Fall, 2008–2010 (33:31) Legacy, 2010–2015