Billionaire Nearly Loses A Billion Betting On Auto Stocks

For most people the name does not ring familiar to them like that of other billionaires like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and he may not have quite the billions that they have but he has done quite well for himself anyway thanks. His name is Kirk Kerkorian and he is living proof that even the most successful among us do not always get it right. Kerkorian is 91 years old this year. He is president and C.E.O. of his own private holding company called Tracinda Corp. Forbes magazine estimated that his net worth in 2008 was about 18 billion dollars and that placed him at number 41 on the worlds list of richest people. He recently placed his faith in the future of the Ford Motor Company when in the spring of 2006 he bought up about 1 billion dollars worth of the companies stock when the price was hovering between $8 and $9 a share. Well as of this monday the price for a share of Ford stock was fluctuating between $2 and $3. Kerkorian has apparently had enough and is looking to get rid of the stock and is willing to take a loss of about 800 million dollars in the process. This is proof positive that the stock market is a gamble even for the most successful among us and sometimes it can go really badly for even the most experienced investor.