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Kirk Kerkorian can smile again with the acquisition of 3.2% of the capital of  MGM Mirage by the Malaysian group Genting. Specialising in hotels and casinos in Asia, this giant has a solid reputation in the region and paid 100 million dollars to acquire 3.2% of the group belonging to the Armenian billionaire. The economic crisis has badly hit the MGM Mirage group which didn't have any choice but to attract new investors to save its skin. MGM Mirage put about 1 billion dollars worth of shares on the market in May and Kirk Kerkorian saw his share in MGM Mirage drop from 53.8% to 39%. This fresh money is very welcome for Kerkorian's group to save the casinos in Las Vegas ( and many other casinos across the United States, editor's note) and in Macao but also to gain new markets notably in Japan and Taiwan. In fact, the Japanese and Taiwanese governments plan to authorise casinos in their countries  and Kerkorian plans to be there to benefit. These emerging markets could be a breath of fresh air  for the finances of the MGM Mirage group in difficulty like all the casinos in the world  where no group is spared by the financial storm which has affected all areas of the economy. MGM Mirage continues to conquer new markets notably in Egypt, Thailand and China with hotels as well as casinos and partnership contracts have already been signed.

The Genting group has its eye on Macau where MGM Mirage is already present in this lucrative market. Thus, Genting could profit from this benefit to install itself in Macau. Even though casinos aren't in the best condition due to the economic crisis, the groups aren't just doing nothing and are looking for new markets. Kirk Kerkorian is proof of this and is benefitting from these difficult times to get foreign investors into his capital to reach new horizons even if he has fewer shares in the capital. The MGM group had to sell one of its leading hotel-casinos to acquire the finance and had to sell the Treasure Island casino to Ruffin Acquisition for the sum of 775 million dollars (see the article “Treasure Island Casino changes hands”).

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