| overview
landmarks
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landmarks
This chronology is indicative only.
Context
is provided by the broader communications and media timeline
on this site.
1904 Loews Theatres founded
1905 Adolph Zukor and Marcus Loew form Loews Consolidated
theatre chain
1924 Marcus Loew buys Metro Pictures
1924 creates Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by acquisition of controlling
stake in Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures
1924 Louis B Mayer becomes studio chief in California
1924 appoints Irving Thalberg as vice-president
1929 takeover by William Fox
collapses
1936 Thalberg dies
1940 US major studios sign federal consent decree, agreeing
to distribute films in blocks of under six and to screen
films in advance for buyers
1944 US federal government reopens anti-trust litigation
against major studios
1947 US Dept of Justice appeals after Supreme Court does
not order major studios to divest exhibition arms
1948 US Supreme Court's 'Paramount Decree' refers divestiture
decision to district court
1949 Loews, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers ordered
to divest their cinema operations
1954 Loews cinema chain separates from MGM as part of
consent decree
1959 Tisch brothers gain control of Loews cinema chain
1961
Kerkorian buys 34 acre Flamingo Road and Sunset Strip
site in Las Vegas
1962 sells site to Caesars Palace for US$5m
1962 sells TransInternational Airlines to Studebaker
1962 buys back TransInternational Airlines, then sells
to Transamerica for US$104m
1967 buys Flamingo in Las Vegas for US$13m
1968 buys then sells Bonanza Hotel and casino
1969 builds International casino
1969 defeats Bronfman's Seagram in takeover of MGM
1970 sells International and Flamingo
to Hilton
1970 buys Bonanza, redeveloped as MGM Grand
1971 MGM Australian cinema chain sold to Rydge's Greater
Union (GU) group for $4.8m
1973 Kerkorian opens MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas
for US$107m
1978 builds MGM Grand in Reno
1980 opens MGM Grand in Atlantic City
1981 Kerkorian buys United Artists (UA) from Transamerica
for US$380m, merges UA with MGM
1981 makes profit in battle over Columbia Pictures
1985 sells MGM Grand Las Vegas to Bally for US$550m
1986 sells MGM film library to Ted Turner
1987 buys Desert Inn, which becomes MGM Desert
Inn
1988 buys Sands, which becomes MGM Sands
1988 creates MGM Grand Air luxury charter airline
1989 sells MGM Sands
1989 buys Marina in Las Vegas, which becomes
MGM Grand
1989 Australian group Qintex
fails to consumate US$1.5bn purchase of studio
1990 Kerkorian sells studio to Giancarlo Parretti for
US$1.4bn
1993 opens new MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas
1993 sells MGM Desert Inn to ITT Sheraton
1995 unsuccessful US$20bn bid for Chrysler, later merged
with Daimler Benz
1996 buys back studio for US$1.3bn from Paretti's banker
Credit Lyonnais in partnership with Australia's Seven
broadcasting network
1996 buys Polygram library
for US$253m
1997 buys Metromedia-controlled
Orion Pictures, Goldwyn Entertainment and Motion Picture
Corp. of America for US$573m
1997 opens New York New York hotel and casino
in Las Vegas
1998 Seven network sells MGM stake to Kerkorian for US$389m
1999 Kerkorian buys back video and DVD rights for Turner
library for US$225m
2000 buys Mirage Resorts for US$4.4bn
2001 buys 20% of Rainbow Media for US$820m
2001 sells 5.7% of MGM Mirage for US$210m
2003 unsuccessfully bids for Vivendi
Universal's US assets
2004 MGM Mirage buys Mandalay Resort Group for US$7.9bn
2004 Sony consortium (inc Providence
Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group and DLJ Merchant
Banking Partners) confirms in principle agreement to acquire
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) for US$5bn
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