MGM is first and foremost a film studio. Metro, Goldwyn, and Meyer were film producers in the 1910s who merged to form MGM in 1924. Kirk Kerkorian was a Vegas

MGM is first and foremost a film studio. Metro, Goldwyn, and Meyer were film producers in the 1910s who merged to form MGM in 1924. Kirk Kerkorian was a Vegas developer who bought MGM in 1969, and use its films to theme the MGM Grand hotel. (He also bought United Artists, founded by Charlie Chaplin and friends as a contemporary of Metro, Goldwyn, and Meyer.) Kirk sold the film studio to Ted Turner in 1986, spinning off the hotel-casino business as MGM Grand.