Yerevan

In an era when financial success is usually reserved for flamboyant showy media-hungry people, Kirk Kerkorian is an anomaly. Often considered a recluse who doesn’t publicize his personal successes, he has been one of the most influential and important American business men of the past fifty years. A self-made man, Kerkorian has invested in numerous high profile business ventures from charter planes to movie studios to automobile manufacturers. However, he is best known for his successes in the hotel development business.

While he is one of the richest men in the world, there was a time when Kirk Kerkorian, son of Armenian immigrants, had only a few thousand dollars to his name. Born in 1917, Kerkorian’s childhood was full of the turbulence typical of immigrant families trying to succeed in their adoptive country. The youngest of four children, he was already bringing money home at the age of nine to contribute his share to the family’s welfare. By 16 years old his focus had shifted away from school and toward the greater world. His frequent streets fights parlayed into training as an amateur boxer but he soon found a more inspiring hobby, one that would be full of great risks and even greater rewards.

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