Tycoon Kirk Kerkorian Dies at 98

Investor Kirk Kerkorian, who twice tried to acquire Chrysler and attempted to engineer a three-way tie-up between General Motors and the Renault-Nissan alliance, has died at age 98.

The Las Vegas-based tycoon's Tracinda Corp. acquired 10% of Chrysler, teamed up with former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and in 1995 offered $20 billion to buy the rest of the company. Chrysler CEO Bob Eaton rebuffed the takeover attempt but ended up selling Chrysler to Daimler.

In 2005 Kerkorian took aim at GM. He bought 9.9% of the company, installed his financial whiz Jerry York on the board and pushed GM to merge with Renault-Nissan. CEO Rick Wagoner discussed the idea with Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, but the talks quickly stalled. Kerkorian sold his stake in GM in 2006.

A year later, Kerkorian made another run at Chrysler, offering Daimler $4.5 billion for the company. This time he lost out to Cerberus Capital Management LP.

He also spent more than $1 billion in 2008 to gain a 6.5% stake in Ford Motor Co. He sold it at a loss several months later, declaring a lack of confidence in the company's management.