Can Lion keeper tame the French circus?
Memo to: Kirk Kerkorian From: Peter Bart Re: The Universal gambit There’s something unseemly about your name appearing on a list of “contenders” for the Vivendi Universal assets, Kirk. You’ve never been a mere “contender,” whether you were going after the old Western Airlines or a Las Vegas Hotel or even Chrysler. While rival bankers and corporate functionaries dithered with their due diligence, you simply wrote the check and closed the deal. So maybe it’s time to make your move on the French, Kirk. Take them out of their agony. A CASE COULD BE MADE that a combined Universal/MGM would be a formidable force. It would have a vast library of some 7,500 films. Universal’s domestic TV channels would mesh well with MGM’s foreign channels. MGM’s small but profitable TV production entity would be buttressed by Universal’s “Law and Order” franchise. The combined entities, while still no Viacom or News Corp., would have the basic components to become a major player in the brave new media univers
