Commentary: Sam Donaldson Reflects on the Times Through the Lens of Kirk Kerkorian

Oct. 21, 2008 — -- The following is a commentary by ABC News' Sam Donaldson. Click here to view a video version of his latest essay.

It's two weeks before the election, but let's talk about Kirk Kerkorian, who isn't running for public office but appears to be running from, well, life.

Kerkorian is 91 years of age and says he may have lived one year too long.

That's a sad thought from anyone. But in this case, perhaps a strange thought when you consider who he is and the life he's lived.

Kerkorian is a legendary investor whose net worth was pegged earlier this year at $18 billion.

In 1962, he scraped together enough money to buy 80 acres across from the Las Vegas strip for a little less than $1 million. Caesar's Palace was built on the land and he turned a profit of $9 million. … Then he bought 82 acres in Las Vegas and eventually owned the Las Vegas Hilton and the Flamingo Hotel. With his winnings, he bought the MGM movie studio, opened the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, and on and on into the super billionaire club.

But then Kerkorian turned to the automobile industry, bought a huge stake in General Motors -- uh oh -- made a bid for Chrysler and finally settled in at Ford.

In a period of months, Kerkorian bought 133,500,000 shares of Ford Motor Co. and while it's impossible to know precisely his average cost, it was somewhere in the $8 range.

This week, Kerkorian began to sell it -- says he will probably sell it all. Ford is trading today at less than $2.50. He will lose billions. But of course, he still has his big stake in MGM, which a year ago was worth more than $12 billion but today is worth about $2 billion.

I suppose the point of all this is to make the rest of us feel better. Those who have lost their threadbare shirts in the stock market, those whose retirement mutual fund plans have shrunk beyond belief and of course, those who have lost or are about to lose their homes.

We can say it wasn't that we were so dumb. If one the smartest and richest investors in this country can lose billions, it must be the times.