Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (or MGM) is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. Its principal subsidiaries are MGM Studios Inc. United Artists Corporation, UA Films and Orion Pictures Corporation.
The name is taken from the three companies that formed a corporate merger to create MGM Studios in 1924; Metro Picture Corporation (formed in 1915), Goldwyn Picture Corporation (1917), and Louis B. Mayer Pictures (1918). They took on the motto Ars Gratia Artis (Art for Art's Sake) and their trademark lion, "Leo" in 1928.
By the 1930s, MGM Studios was the largest film company in Hollywood (although they are actually located in Culver City), and produced a number of now-classic films, including Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.
After World War II, MGM underwent a sea change, and started primarily producing musicals. Most of the great stars of song and dance worked for MGM at the time, including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Frank Sinatra.
Production continued at a rapid pace into the 1960s. As the studio system faded, so did MGM's prestige, and eventually the studio started to lose money. Eventually, after many changed in management, the firm was purchased (some say raided) by Nevada millionare Kirk Kerkorian in 1969. He downsized the company and sold off massive amounts of historical memorabilia, including Dorothy's red slippers (from The Wizard of Oz), and several acres of MGM's backlots (which were razed to build houses).
Through the 1970s the studio output essentially stopped; Kerkorian sold MGM's distribution system, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operation of the studio. In 1979, Kerkorian issued a statement claiming that MGM was now primarily a hotel company; however, he also managed to expand the overall film library and production system with the purchase of United Artists in 1981. In 1986 he sold the studios to Ted Turner.
Turner kept ownership of the combined MGM/UA for exactly 74 days. Both studios had huge debts, and Turner simply could not afford to keep them under those circumstances; to recoup his investment, he sold all of United Artists and the MGM trademark back to Kerkorian. The studio lot was sold to Lorimar, which was later acquired by Warner Bros.; in 1990, the lot was sold to Sony, in exchange for the half of Warner's lot they'd rented since the 1970s. Turner kept the MGM back catalog, however, which everntually passed on to Warners itself in 1996.
Also in 1990, the studio was purchased by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti. Under the management of Parretti (and his backers, Credit Lyonnais) MGM Studios made a brief resurgence in the 1990s, producing such films as Get Shorty and Leaving Las Vegas. However they continued losing money over the entire period; Parretti eventually defaulted on the loans he'd used to buy the studios, Credit Lyonnais foreclosed on him, and eventually sold the firm back to Kerkorian.
In 1997, MGM purchased Metromedia International, gaining Orion Pictures, Goldwyn Entertainment, and the Motion Picture Corporation of America, further enlarging their movie back catalog. Since then, MGM has had few theatrical hits (notably Legally Blonde), but has made money releasing it now-gigantic library of films to home video.