This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

Our series of Money Losers for 2008 has its share of millionaires and billionaires on it. Personally, I think that is just wrong. While these people may have lost billions of dollars this past year, it doesn't seem fair to call them money losers. They will certainly survive this troubled time and still have their house, their cars, and (at least some of) their fortune. However, on the flip side, no one would read an article about Frank the farmer from Iowa who lost 50% of his life savings.

Kirk Kerkorian made his fortune by developing real estate and hotels in Las Vegas and by buying and selling movie studio MGM three times over. According to the Forbes 2008 list, he is the world's 41st-richest person with a net worth of $16.0 billion.

This year has seen some bumps in the road for Mr. Kerkorian. His private investment corporation Tracinda owns about 55% of MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) and made a very prominent bad call on Ford (NYSE: F) earlier this year.

MGM peaked around October of last year with a stock price upwards of $95. At that time, Tracinda's 55% state would have been worth about $14.5 billion. However, with today's share price of just $13.50, that chunk of MGM is "only" $1.5 billion. Of course these are only paper gains and paper losses at this point, but it still stings a little bit to look at the bottom line.

Continue reading Money losers of 2008: Kirk Kerkorian takes hits from MGM and Ford

Money losers of 2008: Kirk Kerkorian takes hits from MGM and Ford originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading What will be the end of Ford? Shares plunge as losses mount

What will be the end of Ford? Shares plunge as losses mount originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford (NYSE: F) is recently trading at $8.23 in pre-open trading, above its close of $7.50.

Tracinda Corporation announced it intends to make a cash tender offer for up to 20 million shares of common stock of F at a price of $8.50. Tracinda currently owns 100 million shares of F, representing approximately 4.7% of the outstanding shares.

F May option implied volatility of 61 is above its 26-week average of 54 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

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

Option Update: Ford volatility up; Tracinda announces tender for F originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Add Kirk Kerkorian to the list of legendary investors making big bets on energy. Kerkorian's trading vehicle Tracinda has purchased a 35% stake in Delta Petroleum (NASDAQ: DPTR) for $684 million, sending shares of Delta up more than 20%.

The deal will give Delta a direct capital infusion, since Kerkorian is acquiring the stake from the company, rather than buying shares on the open market as most investors. Delta will use the cash to invest in its drilling activities in the Piceance and Paradox Basins.

Delta also got a fair price from Kerkorian, extracting $19 per share from the investor. That Delta got a premium of more than 20% in the private placement indicates that there was strong interest in the company; often private placements are at substantial discounts to the market price, as was the case with Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) which received a cash infusion from Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).

Kerkorian will be able to control one-third of the company's board of directors as part of the agreement.

Kerkorian buys a 35% stake in Delta Petroleum originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bear-call credit spread above the $65 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in 9 weeks as long as TSO is below $65 at January expiration. Tesoro would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

Continue reading Tesoro (TSO) drops on Tracinda comments

Tesoro (TSO) drops on Tracinda comments originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.

Option update 6-14-07: Starwood up on renewed Kerkorian speculation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kerkorian's new target: Kerkorian originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) was down nearly 3.5% by midday, reaching a double-digit drop for the week. GM stock started the week trading at $35.37 and it is now at $31.49. Despite the restructuring plans that were accepted favorably by investors, there have been many issues hitting GM lately, and this week was no different.

Today started with news of United Auto Workers President, Ron Gettelfinger, vowing to save job banks and "fight" for the union members come union negotiations. The job banks would be a difficult issue for GM as it means guarantees of nearly full pay for laid-off workers.

Another news item from today that doesn't sit well with investors has to do with billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. Tracinda Corp., the investment firm controlled by Kerkorian, said it plans a tender offer for $825 million of stock of MGM Mirage Inc. (NYSE:MGM). What does this have to do with GM? Well, this investment in MGM will increase Tracinda's stake in the company to 61.7%, scaring investors the billionaire might shift his attention there. Tracinda has 9.9% of GM and Kerkorian has been key in lobbying for the good changes at GM.

Finally, GM also announced today it is scrapping plans to develop a new family of minivans due to the company's shift in product strategy, focusing on the growing crossover segment. The minivan segment has been shrinking and GM plans to phase out current minivan models later in the decade. The company was planning to have redesigned minivan models by 2009. Does that mean now they will phase out the minivan segment completely?

GM down 3.4%, can't seem to put on the brakes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.