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Wednesday, April 28, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Yemenidjian new boss of MGM studio
The president of MGM Grand Inc. will move to Los Angeles to replace retiring Frank Mancuso.
Associated Press
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The six-year reign of MGM chief Frank Mancuso is over, as controlling shareholder Kirk Kerkorian's casino aide has been named to replace him as part of an aggressive growth strategy, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. announced.
Alex Yemenidjian, 43, currently an MGM director and chairman of the Executive Committee, was named chairman and chief executive officer Tuesday. He will relocate to Los Angeles from Las Vegas.
Yemenidjian succeeds the retiring Mancuso, who will continue to serve on the MGM board. As part of the transition, Vice Chairman A. Robert Pisano, 56, who came to the company with Mancuso in 1993, also stepped down.
Mancuso, 65, had tired of the pressure of his job, Daily Variety reported Tuesday. His contract runs until October 2001, but it specifies he can quit at any time with 30 days notice.
He will receive a payout of about $11 million, according to MGM's latest proxy statement.
MGM said the new leadership was "part of an aggressive long-term growth strategy to simultaneously leverage its unmatched library and expand new film and television production."
MGM has the world's largest film library with more than 5,000 titles, more than half of all films made by Hollywood studios in the past half-century. The MGM library also has more than 8,000 hours of TV programming.
Because of the management change, MGM postponed its scheduled May 11 annual stockholders meeting. A date hasn't been announced.
News reports about a possible management shakeup boosted MGM stock 10 percent to $15.93 on Monday. In trading Tuesday, MGM stock fell to $14.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. MGM Grand Inc. stock was off 6 cents Tuesday to $43.50.
Yemenidjian has spent the past nine years at Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. and MGM Grand Inc., most recently as president and chief operating officer of the Las Vegas-based entertainment, hotel and gambling company. He will retain the title of president of MGM Grand Inc.
Yemenidjian and J. Terrence Lanni, CEO and chairman of MGM Grand Inc., led the dramatic turnaround of the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas in 1995. During that time, the value of the company has increased four-fold, the company said. MGM Grand Inc. owns and operates the MGM Grand and the New York-New York hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and Whiskey Pete's, Buffalo Bill's and the Primm Valley Resort in Primm.
Daniel Wade, executive vice president, will replace Yemenidjian as COO of MGM Grand Inc.
Yemenidjian praised Mancuso and Pisano for setting the stage for the future at MGM.
"Our mandate is to reinvent MGM by building aggressively on the strong foundation that is now in place," he said in a statement that listed opportunities in cable TV, the Internet and e-commerce, among others.
"I have long admired Alex and the tremendous job he has done building MGM Grand. I've been urging him to make this move for some time because I am convinced he is the ideal successor to lead MGM in its next phase of growth," Mancuso said in a statement.
Since the acquisition with Tracinda in October 1996, MGM has transformed itself into a leading content company, Mancuso said. MGM also tripled its film library with Orion and PolyGram acquisitions.
MGM also announced that management intends to recommend to the Board of Directors a rights offering in which all MGM stockholders would receive transferable rights to purchase new MGM common shares at a customary discount to the market price.
The number of rights per share and the terms of any oversubscription privilege are to be determined.
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