Founders
Episode 65 #65 Kirk Kerkorian (Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History)
Founders

Episode 65: #65 Kirk Kerkorian (Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History)

Founders

Episode 65

#65 Kirk Kerkorian (Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History)

David Senra is the host of Founders, where he studies history's greatest entrepreneurs. This is what he learned from reading The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel.

What I learned from reading The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel.

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[0:16] He was a humble man privately proud of his accomplishments, a business genius who ignored his MBA advisers, a daring aviator and movie mogul, a gambler at the casino and on Wall Street who played the odds in both houses with uncanny skill.

[4:34] Kirk believed there was no point in placing small bets.

[16:48] He was a day laborer at MGA studios. He made $2.60 a day. Thirty years later he owned MGM and his investment was returning $260,000 a day.

[21:27] His low tolerance for mistakes and recklessness made him a demanding instructor. He often repeated the mantra: There are old pilots and there are bold pilots—but there are no old, bold pilots.

[46:54] He still relished big risks. And he subscribed to the logic of his friend and casino owner Wilbur Clark of the Desert Inn: “The smaller your bet, the more you lose when you win.” Besides, what’s the point—where’s the thrill—winning a small wager? Betting the limit became Kirk’s trademark.

[53:26] Kirk was now sitting on stock worth more than $66 million, a vast fortune by any measure. And no one was more surprised than he was.

[1:09:03] Kirk blamed Kirk. He had let himself become vulnerable. He hated that. He hated feeling helpless and at the mercy of forces beyond his control. He vowed never to let anything like that happen again.

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#65 Kirk Kerkorian (Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History)

Introduction

"There is an inspiring life story in the 98 years that belonged to Kirk Kerkorian, a boy who ran barefoot in the rich dirt of California's San Joaquin Valley before family financial chaos made him a city boy fighting for his place on the dirty sidewalks of Los Angeles. He was a tough guy who wept at funerals, a humble man privately proud of his accomplishments, a business genius who ignored his MBA advisers, a daring aviator and a movie mogul, a gambler at the casinos and on Wall Street who played the odds in both houses with uncanny skill."

That is an excerpt from the book that I'm going to talk to you about today, which is, The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History. So let's start with his personality, his early life and some of his accomplishments. So it says, "Kirk was uncomfortable in crowds and dreaded the attention of strangers. His lifelong aversions to the trappings of celebrity would make him what he remains years after his death, one of the least known of America's richest men. He seemed to burst out of nowhere onto the American business scene in the late 1960s, a small businessman with a gambling habit and a junior high school education who struck at rich at the mature age of 50."

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