Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda Corporation started the operation in 1987; he was the former owner of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio, from which MGM Grand derived its name.
The company began life as MGM Grand in 1987 before changing its name to MGM Mirage in 2000, following its acquisition of Mirage Resorts. In the mid-2000s, the company shifted its focus from retail casinos to the leisure and entertainment industry – marked by its launch of the massive CityCenter mixed-use project in Las Vegas.
MGM attempted to shift into the Asian market in the early 2000s but found its efforts to be unsuccessful. They failed to win gaming concessions in Macau and found themselves losing out on a bid on Marina Bay in Singapore to rivals Las Vegas Sands. Eventually, they were able to open the MGM Grand Macau in 2007.
Their Asian operations were mired in scandal, as New Jersey gambling regulators evaluated MGM Mirage's suitability to operate casinos in New Jersey. They were suspicious of MGM Mirage's Macau partner, Pansy Ho, whose father, Stanley Ho, was accused of ties with Chinese organized crime
In 2009, Kerkorian and Tracinda Corp. felt the impact of the US financial crash and took a $1bn stock offering from MGM Mirage, which led to Tracinda’s shares falling from 53.8% to 39% – they were no longer majority shareholders. This led to shareholders voting for the name change to MGM Resorts International in 2010.
Throughout the 2010s, MGM Resorts continued to establish its credentials as an entertainment and leisure company, purchasing the naming rights for a new baseball stadium in Las Vegas – MGM Park – in 2014.
Following the repeal of PASPA in 2018, MGM announced a 50-50 joint venture with UK gambling operator Entain that targeted states where gambling was being legalized. In January 2019, the venture was named Roar Digital.
Additionally, with the move into sports betting, MGM announced official partnerships with several North American professional sports leagues, including the NBA, the NHL and MLB.
Number of employees: 74,500
Key personnel:
President & Chief Operating Officer (City Center): Anton Nikodemus
President & Chief Operating Officer (Bellagio): Ann Hoff
Chief Financial Officer: Jonathan Halkyard
Executive VP, Global Development: Ed Bowers
President & Chief Operating Officer, (Southeast Operations): Brandon Dardeau
Chief Operating Officer: Corey Sanders
Locations:
Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland. Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada
