Kerkorian up close (sort of)

Part of Kirk Kerkorian's mystique is that he simply doesn't do interviews. But that doesn't mean his friends and business associates don't. WSJ's Monica Langley uses the occasion of Kerkorian selling off his GM shares to get behind the mystique - and providing a bunch of juicy tidbits in the process. The closest she gets to a Kerkorian interview is picking up Kirk quotes from others. When the Beverly Hills billionaire decided to fold his cards on GM, for example, he told his adviser Terry Christensen "I like to gamble. But I stop gambling when there's no chance to win." Other morsels come from unattributed sources.

The story says that Kerkorian turned down a meeting with GM Chairman Rick Wagoner, who was in town this week for the auto show. Last summer, Wagoner asked Kerkorian to join him for dinner, but Kirk took off after the appetizers. Apparently, there's no love lost between Kerkorian and certain members of GM's board. From the WSJ:

"Who does this guy from Las Vegas think he is, telling us what to do," asked director Armando Codina at one board debate, according to people familiar with the situation, referring to Mr. Kerkorian.

Actually, Kerkorian spends most of his time in his home, just a few blocks from the Beverly Hills Hotel. From the WSJ:

Every day, he drives himself in his Jeep Cherokee to his Beverly Hills office, a nondescript suite where he runs $10 billion in assets with a few longtime aides. He uses no bodyguards. Among his favorite lunch spots is the Boulevard, where he nibbles salmon ("Not too big of a piece") and sips green tea. He doesn't use credit cards and buys clothes only about once a year.