January 18, 2002 - 23:07 AMT
KIRK KRKORIAN WANTS TO SELL "MGM" CINEMA STUDIO FOR SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS
One of the oldest cinema studios of Hollywood "Metro-Goldwin-Mayer" (MGM) is presented for sale. As reported by "Arminfo" agency, making reference to "Los Angeles Times" newspaper, the owner of the control packet of the company shares Kirk Krkorian, who holds 80% of them, intends to get nearly seven billion dollars for the cinema studio, while its capitalization makes five billions today. According to the newspaper data, Krkorian counts to get 30 USD for each stock, while the price does not exceed 21 USD at present. According to the testimony of "Los Angeles Times", such biggest media groups, as "Wiwendy Universal", "News Corp" and "AOL Time" are the potential buyers of "Metro-Goldwin-Mayer." Nevertheless, there have not been made any proposals of accusation, as the price is too high. Neither Krkorian, nor Chairman of the Council of Directors of the studio, nor the potential buyers comment the information about sale. "Los Angeles Times" notes that specialists consider the rights for the films about James Bond and series about Pink Panther as the main asset of the cinema studio. There are over 4100 names in MGM film collection. Let us note that Krkorian sells "Metro-Goldwin-Mayer" the third time. He first acquired the cinema studio in 1969, and second time in 1996 at the price of one billion 300 million U.S. dollars.