Kerkorian Bets on Bellagio

Activist investor Kirk Kerkorian, who holds a controlling interest in MGM Mirage, is making a play to buy two of the casino company's crown jewels. Kerkorian's company, Tracinda Corp., is in talks to acquire MGM's Bellagio Casino and the $7.4 billion CityCenter development, currently under construction. Kerkorian currently owns 56% of MGM Mirage.

The offer may presage a larger strategy to take the company private. Or it may just be a brilliant—if slightly untoward—profit generator, says Keith Hahn at Dealbreaker.com. "He’s making a bid for his own assets, and causing the stock of the public company to skyrocket in price," Hahn writes. Kerkorian’s MGM shares are up $2.5 billion since yesterday. "It stinks of an inside deal," one analyst tells the Wall Street Journal. (More Bellagio stories.)