It’s looking increasingly likely that octogenarian billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian has, as predicted, pulled out his investment in General Motors by selling his stock in the company.
Last week he owned 9.9 per cent of the ailing car giant, making him its biggest investor. And earlier in the year he had made noises about increasing his stake. But the turnaround was complete on Friday, when Bank of America bought 28 million GM shares; financial experts say that it’s almost impossible that the stock could have been sourced from anyone other than Kerkorian.
The recent collapse of GM’s merger talks with Renault-Nissan, of which Kerkorian was a strong advocate, is believed to be behind his decision.
Kerkorian’s departure removes a barrier to CEO Rick Wagoner’s GM turn-around plans, but it also increases pressure on Wagoner to produce results.
