This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

In this corner, hailing from Beverly Hills and Las Vegas, is 91-year old billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, one-time amateur boxer know as "Rifle Right Kerkorian." And in the other corner, hailing from New York, is 71-year-old corporate raider and activist private equity investor, Carl Icahn, who is never afraid to go toe to toe with an opponent.

Let's get ready to rumble.

Round One begins: Kerkorian drops out of school and becomes a pilot. He gets his start in business buying surplus planes after World War II, as well as Las Vegas properties, becoming the landlord of Caesar's Palace. Icahn, meanwhile, establishes his reputation as a corporate raider during his hostile takeover of TWA in 1985, and becomes one of the inspirations for the character of Gordon "Greed Is Good" Gekko, the antagonist of the 1987 film Wall Street.

Over the past decade or so, Dubai has placed big bets on its ability to become the world's top tourist destination. Now Dubai is taking its plans to sin city itself, Las Vegas. Dubai World, which is the investment holding firm of the Dubai government, has decided to invest $5 billion in MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) for a 9.5% stake.

In addition, Dubai World will also be getting a 50% interest in the yet to be finished CityCenter development project.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM), which launched a factory-building blitz five years ago, is now being urged by senior members of the founding family to stop building factories in the United States on fears it will hurt the company's efficiency.
• Kirk Kerkorian, who controls MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM), had planned to buy the Bellagio Hotel and Casino and the $7.4B Project City Center from MGM. But that deal now appears to be off, according to the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The U.K. Times reported that News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) has had preliminary talks with Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) about giving its social networking site MySpace to the online search company, in exchange for a 25% stake in Yahoo!.
• The New York Times reported that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will leave the Republican Party and register as an Independent.
• The New York Times also reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) will pay Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) $50M for two exclusive downloadable episodes of Grand Theft Auto for the Xbox 360.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) -- volatility Elevated on renewed Kerkorian speculation. HOT, a leading hotel and leisure company, is frequently mentioned as a private equity break up/recapitalization candidate. Chatter is circulating that Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda has a mid-$90's offer on the table for HOT. HOT is recently up $0.63 to $70.64. HOT has a market cap of $15 billion with long term debt of $1.8 billion. HOT reported quarterly March 2007 total revenue of $1.4 billion. HOT July option implied volatility of 34 is above its 26-week average of 27 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) -- volatility not confirming renewed takeover speculation. CFC, the largest U.S. home mortgage lender, is recently up 26 cents to $38.16. CFC July option implied volatility of 36 is near its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger price fluctuations.

Option volume leaders today are: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Freeport McMoran (NYSE: FCX), Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO).

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

After dueling with Daimler and losing again, Kirk Kerkorian has decided to take on someone his own size: himself. In a move that has analyst's opinions all over the map, Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation announced it will negotiate with MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM) for its two best properties. The Bellagio and the under-construction CityCenter could fetch as much at $12 billion.

The odd part of the story is that Kerkorian owns 56% of MGM Mirage. Other stockholders are not responding well to what they perceive as an attempt to cherry-pick the company's assets, questioning Kerkorian's motives. Some suggest he is trying to force the company onto the sales block, drooling at the potential price in light of Harrah's recent $17.1 billion sale.

He could also be hoping to play both ways; strip off the most lucrative assets, then hope the remaining package is still alluring enough to draw venture interest. Left on the table for the moment is MGM's Grand Macau, possibly signaling Kerkorian's uncertainty about that market.

A key part of this deal is MGM's CityCenter development, a casino-retail-hotel- condominium complex that will cost an estimated $7.9 billion. With the recent cancellation of other Vegas high-roller condo developments, CityCenter is either well poised to take advantage of the Vegas property boom or vulnerable to the slackening housing market. Probably the former.

The market has shown love for the idea, so far, jumping up 30% by midmorning on the news.

DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) and Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. are renewing their long-standing feud in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Kerkorian, the billionaire who tried to buy Chrysler in 1995, last week offered to by the money-losing automaker for $4.5 billion and even promised to put down a $100 million deposit. DaimlerChrysler's executives, though, aren't taking the bid seriously, the Wall Street Journal said.

According to the Journal, Tracinda wanted DailmerChrysler to shoulder some of Chrysler's $15 billion in pension liabilities and retiree health care costs, something that other bidders haven't sought. DaimlerChrysler also balked at Tracinda's request to for exclusive rights to conduct due diligence for 60 days, the paper said.

Of course "people familiar with the matter" in Tracinda's camp see things differently. DaimlerChrylser, which is holding meetings with the private equity companies interested in buying Chrysler, denied to the Journal that its discriminating against Kerkorian.

This is what people mean when they talk about negotiating though the press.

The campaign of leaks and counter leaks has just begun.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is in talks to buy the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the third largest options exchange in the U.S.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Kirk Kerkorian wasn't invited to meet this week with DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) as it gets together with bidders for its Chrysler unit.
• Also in the Wall Street Journal, Xstrata will sell its aluminum unit to Apollo Management for $1.5B, higher than expected.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the New York Post, citing sources familiar with the matter, the private-equity firms that bought out Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU), Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, are weighing their options as they wait for a "crucial" shareholder vote on the deal, which will come next week.

WEBSITES:

• According to Barron's Online's "Inside Scoop" column, Carl Icahn's investment groups reported that in the last two weeks they have increased their Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) holdings to 69.1M shares, or a 2.9% stake, from 64.9M shares, or a 2.7% stake.
• DigiTimes.com reported that Samsung is reportedly switching capacity from DRAM back to NAND flash.

In 2006, Chrysler (NYSE: DCX) lost $1.5 billion as the company failed to adapt to changing trends in the auto industry, focusing on minivans, pickups, and sport utility vehicles. By way of explanation, Chairman Dieter Zetsche offered this, which is probably one of the dumbest quotes I've seen so far in 2007:

"The crucial factor was the unforeseeable shift in demand to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, which was triggered by increased gas prices in the U.S." (emphasis added)

Wow. What's next? Will people continue to buy dog food that kills their pets? Will Atari explain the declining sales of the Atari 2600 by saying that "the crucial factor was an unforeseeable shift toward higher quality, more enjoyable video games"?

All I can say is that if the chairman of an automobile manufacturer considers the shift toward smaller cars in light of rising gas prices as unforeseeable, the company probably needs new leadership.

On April 5th, Kirk Kerkorian offered $4.58 billion for the company, so maybe change is on the way.

With the Chrysler Group in play, the company's parent -- DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) -- is fielding a variety of big-money calls. The buzz is that private equity firms Blackstone Group, Cereberus Capital Management and Centerbridge Capital Partners are preparing bids.

But, hey, it's really not a mega auto deal without billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, right?

Well, today his investment firm, Tracinda Corp., made a $4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler Group. According to the Wall Street Journal, he is even willing to make a good faith deposit for $100 million [subscription required].

Keep in mind that Kerkorian is a billionaire for a reason: he knows how to structure deals.So, his offer comes with some conditions, one being that the Chrysler Group will need to strike a good deal with the UAW. Moreover, there needs to be a way to deal with the hot potatoes of pension and healthcare liabilities.

I think I would want the same things if I was shelling out $4.5 billion.

It's also getting Wall Street excited – as there may be real interest in Chrysler Group. DaimlerChrysler's stock was up as much as 4.9% to $84.75 on the news. DCX is now up 2.85% to $83.38.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

About an hour ago I blogged about General Motor Corp. (NYSE:GM), lamenting on the stock price performance today (and since the beginning of the week) and listing possible reasons. And one of the reasons has immediately materialized.

Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire who holds (held) 9.9% of GM through his Tracinda Corp. investment firm, sold 14 million GM shares at $33 a share, taking his stake in GM down to 7.4%, according to a SEC filing.

Speculations that Kerkorian was looking to sell or reduce his stake in GM have been pushing the stock price down even before the SEC filing, especially after his announced bid to buy 15 million of MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM) for $55 a share, a transaction that would increase his holding in the hotel and casino company to over 61%.

GM shares, which actually performed fairly well this year as investors responded favorably to restructuring plans, are down 3.5% as of now (1:30 p.m.) and over 10% on the week. The prospects of Kerkorian losing interest in GM and not continuing to push for positive changes in the auto maker company, don't sit well with Wall St.

After talks between General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and Nissan-Renault came to a unsuccessful end on Wednesday, GM's largest investor, Kirk Kerkorian, has said that he has no plans of making any further investments in the automobile giant.

Kerkorian was a strong voice in trying to facilitate an alliance between GM and Nissan-Renault and is obviously upset over the failure. Kerkorian, who currently owns 9.9% of General Motors had told the SEC earlier this week that he was considering adding to his holdings to lift his stake to 12%.

Not only has Kerkorian decided not to add to his position, his adviser Jerome York , who served on GM's board, has resigned from his position. As Autoblog says, it's a lot like taking your ball and going home...

After today's announcement GM stock fell as much as 8.3% to a low of $30.38 and is currently trading down 4.0% to $31.80 down $1.33.

What is the average General Motors investor to do these days? With the rumored GM-Nissan deal having fallen apart (who knows why), General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) is left in just the same situation as it is now -- horrid sales numbers compared to the competition and the looming threat of Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) overtaking it as the world's largest automaker for the first time in a many many years. That's mostly a symbolic changing of the guards, but the concern that it will sway investor sentiment is already being voiced.

With GM investor Kirk Kerkorian having a few long days and nights recently -- he was a main proponent of the GM and Nissan potential alliance -- many in the investing community are wondering what will be his next move. He controls so many GM shares and is probably itching to ensure his investment would not be better off sunk into a passbook savings account.

Kerkorian does stand to make a small killing if he cashes out his GM stake right now -- he won't lose money, as GM shares are actually up 75% in 2006. But, investors like him usually want more and more and more -- hence, his reputation for meddling in the corporate affairs of companies where he holds large stakes. If Kerkorian continues to hold GM, he'll continue to pressure the board and CEO Rick Wagoner to unlock as much shareholder value as possible -- and you can take that to the bank.