Word: kerkorian
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Last week Aubrey returned to power. Las Vegas Financier Kirk Kerkorian, who a month ago won control of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, picked him to be the company's new president to replace Louis ("Bo") Polk Jr., 39, who was fired. Polk had been chosen only last January by Edgar M. Bronfman, whose 16% holding in the company was the largest until Kerkorian bought roughly a 40% share for about $100 million. (Time Inc. owns 5%.) Bronfman and one of three other directors representing his interests quit the 19-man board last week...
Smelling the Public. Kerkorian hopes that Aubrey, whom he met for the first time only two weeks ago, can put new vigor into the ailing MGM lion. Kerkorian wanted a show business veteran to replace financial man Polk, but his choice for the presidency, Herb Jaffe, a vice president of United Artists, turned the job down. Gregson Bautzer, the Los Angeles socialite lawyer who counts both Kerkorian and Aubrey among his clients, introduced the two men at the Beverly Hilton and recommended Aubrey for the job. Bautzer's sales pitch: "Jim Aubrey has a real good sense of smell...
According to Bautzer, Aubrey told Kerkorian: "I don't want a contract. If I do a job on this, the contract will take care of itself. If you don't like the way I'm doing it, you can say 'Get lost, Jim' without any obligations." Aubrey will get $208,000 yearly, plus an option to buy 17,500 shares...
...Kerkorian believes that MGM can go nowhere but up. His operating policy for the company: "Clear out the nonproductive items and keep the productive ones, and you have a successful business." MGM began last year to sell off its real estate holdings, which are scattered from Culver City, Calif., to London. In order to realize some quick profits, Kerkorian is likely to dispose of more...
...coup was shrewdly timed. Before Kerkorian started bidding, MGM stock had dropped from a 1968 high of $55 to $29 a share. The company recently estimated that it lost at least $25 million during the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. Most of the deficit, however, grew out of MGM's decision to write off as losses some box-office flops and a great part of its slow-selling inventory of monaural records. Kerkorian thus bought into a company that may be poised for a turnaround. Bronfman has already predicted a profit for MGM in fiscal...