Kerkorian May Dump Entire Ford Stake After Shares Lose Two-Thirds of Value

[Purveyor]

By Bill Koenig

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is unwinding his Ford Motor Co. stake after the auto industry recession cut the value of his $995 million holding by two- thirds and put his firm's gambling investments at risk.

Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. sold 7.3 million Ford shares yesterday for an average of $2.43 each and said it contacted an investment bank about unloading the rest. Tracinda's remaining 133.5 million shares were valued at $311.1 million yesterday.

Kerkorian, 91, acted five days after Ford's collapsing stock price forced him to pledge another 50 million shares of his MGM Mirage casino company to back the $600 million credit line used to buy stock in the second-largest U.S. automaker. Tracinda's Ford shares cost an average of $7.07, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

``It was an investment that made no sense,'' said Maryann Keller, an independent auto analyst and consultant in Greenwich, Connecticut. ``He's pulling in his horns and concentrating on areas he knows best.''

Tracinda ``intends to further reduce its holdings'' in Ford to focus on gambling, hotels and energy, according to the filing, which didn't give specifics.

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[pitohui]

1. what took him so long to figure this out?

i dumped f at the time he was buying it!

[enid602]

2. falling shares

I would imagine he bought the shares on margin, and that the bank has called the loan.