The Gambler Book Summary: Biography Of Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian

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What do you desire to become in the future? Does your dream revolve around accumulating wealth? Well, we all have different gifts and skills we use to serve and improve the lives of others. The journey to success is not a walk in the park and you must take risks. So if you want to achieve big goals in life, you have to do whatever it takes. Kirk Kerkorian did.

The Gambler by William C. Rempel is a success story about Kirk Kerkorian. The book is a national bestseller. 

Lessons From Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian

• Success does not come easy. You have to work for everything you put your mind to.
• To become wealthy means to explore many income streams.
• When things get tough, always focus on the positive through creativity and innovation.
• Anything that can be solved with money is not a problem.
• Always leave some profit for the other guy in the deal
• Give back and it will come back to you tenfold
• Always put people first, they are the most important
• Your word needs to mean everything

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Biography of Kirk Kerkorian

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The rags to riches story of how an 8th grade dropout became a multi-billionaire. From boxing to flipping airplanes to real estate development in Las Vegas, Kirk was a risk taking legend.

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The Gambler Book Summary: Biography Of Kirk Kerkorian

Indeed, Kirk Kerkorian was one of the most influential billionaires in American history. He was a true definition of coming from nothing to something. Kirk understood business philosophies which brought his passion to make a difference. One main trait about Kirk was that he always put the needs of people first. This desire evolved over time giving him the willingness to provide massive donations to Armenian communities during catastrophic times. This is similar in many ways to Ted Turner in his biography Call Me Ted.

He was also a risk-taker, an aviator, and became a movie mogul in his business career. Kirk indeed generated all his wealth from many businesses. Including his main company Tracinda Corporation. Which led to investment and the establishment of international resorts. As a result, Kirk pushed for the transformation of Las Vegas. This made him a top financial giant in America. He could definitely be compared to famous Hotelman Conrad Hilton in his biography Be My Guest.

After the Second World War, America had initiatives to bring back the economy. Kirk was at the front line to be a top business deal maker but as an independent entrepreneur. He was the major pioneer of different leisure businesses. Such as airlines. In earl days he would flip airplanes to make money. He even flew old war planes that were trapped in Hawaii due to short range back to California by filling the inside with huge gas tanks. He nearly died several times in the process. This process turned into bigger and bigger transactions and finally created Western Airlines. Later in his airline career he tried to buy TWA and this is where he ran into Billionaire Carl Icahn, who's biography is also worth a read in King Icahn. 

Like any other self-made billionaire, Kirk was not born into a rich family. As they say, every success story has a humble beginning. Young Kirk with his Armenian family came to America as immigrants. But this did not stop or limit him from thinking big beyond his dreams in business. Kirk and his family during their time in Los Angeles after relocation was rough and hard to manage. The high rent rates led to many movements to new places due to evictions. Growing up, Kirk’s education was a blur because of the inability of his parents to afford school fees. As a result, he dropped out in eighth grade. Coming from nothing is a shared experience in the biography of Jack Ma the founder of Alibaba.

Kirk began to learn English by flipping newspapers. This is how he started earning pennies at an early age. Always focused on driving revenue, Kirk learned that debt can be good and especially bad from his father. Working on the ranch growing up and his heavy interest in and passion for boxing gave him tremendous amounts of grit. At a later point in his career he even met and negotiated with Mike Tyson who could tell he was more than a suit. Thankfully airplanes took him away from boxing or he may have ended up punch drunk like his brother.

Always a risk taker Kirk lost his first major investment in Las Vegas real estate, only to try again with another. Over his career he built Las Vegas's largest hotel several times. Kirk was a visionary with a knack for putting deals together. This was thanks in large part to his reputation of doing what he says he will do. Once a deal is made the deal doesn't change. His good name kept him going in 2008 building City Center. When other developers were tucking tail he was still getting debt to finish construction. He was as honest and straight forward as it comes.

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Kirk earned the honor to be on the Forbes list of American billionaires many times and he hated it. Kirk wanted and cherished his privacy. Somewhat similar to T. Boone Pickens in his biography The First Billion Is The Hardest. As a public figure Kirk became a target of the media and the world. His tumultuous relationships were all over the media and are discussed in great detail in the book.

Kirk had a poor educational background but found his way into the business world. He mastered the skill of deal-making with prominent professionals. He even took Ted Turner for $300mm by selling him MGM at a high price and buying it back low. Dealing in these deals and always being fair so no one left feeling as though they got screwed was a big deal for his reputation as a great deal maker. Something that he and Steve case share. More about Steve in his biography The Third Wave.

In business, to meet high performance, a quality team is necessary and picking the correct team is one of the challenges he was masterful at in his business journey. When he bought MGM and they had the dismantle and sell off the archives in order to stay in business, Kirk gave total trust to his team. Interfering only once to let and unknown actor out of his contract. That actor would turn out to be Al Pacino and the role he was let out to play was in the Godfather. 

One of the most impressing parts of Kirk's life was his philanthropical interests. He gave money in large sums to countless interests through the Lincy Foundation and otherwise. He donated over $180 million to Armenia in an effort to rebuild after the destructive persecution they suffered at the end of the ottoman empire.

Indeed, Kirk lived and died at a very ripe old age. Rempel has given an open and detailed description of his life in The Gambler. The information available in the book are factual. From Kirk Kerkorian biography, court documents, business achievements, and memories. The legacy of Kirk Kerkorian’s life has inspired people worldwide. Especially the younger generation who have dreams and look forward to chasing them. The book teaches that visions and ideas are nothing until you bring them to life. You can achieve anything you want in life, as long as you have a plan, the right team, and are willing to take risks. Kirk proved to the world that success does not care where you come from or how much you have. It only accepts what you are willing to do to make a difference.

About The Author William C. Rempel

William C. Rempel is a verified editor and an investigative reporter. His projects focus on national topics and foreign subjects. William has been part of trending topics in the media. This is because of his 36 years of experience working as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. One of his main reports was the Exxon Valdez disaster. Which was about oil safety and supply due to the Al-Qaeda menace in 2001. His courage to report terrorism subjects has earned him journalism awards and honors. Like the Overseas Press Club Award and Gerald Loeb Award. When it comes to investigative reports, William is at the top of the list as a journalist.

William’s journalism career opened doors and birthed many opportunities to pursue authoring. His talent in writing became diverse because publications were in English and Spanish. Covering many topics of finance, drugs, and love among other global issues. As a result, he got gigs with multimillion dollar brands around the world. Such as becoming a screen and scriptwriter for the Netflix show Narcos and a few Telenovelas.

From a journalist to an influential author, William has directed bestselling books. Like The Gambler and At the Devil’s Table among other journals. Due to the rise of technology, social media platforms have helped William. Making him connect with the audience worldwide. His LinkedIn profile has key information about his career and authoring skills. Also, his experience is on his page to show the audience his professionalism and trust. Apart from social media, William has gone the extra mile to produce podcasts. Where he shares his knowledge and insights on finance and capitalism.

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