MGM Connections to Merrill Lynch Keep United Artists in Business

Merrill Lynch and United Artists are wrapping up a $500 million film financing deal that should have Tom Cruise jumping for joy (see article on DealBook). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to identify common relationships between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc (which owns UA) and Merrill Lynch to determine how relationships could have played a role in finalizing this agreement.

The most revealing relationship we discovered was that between Jerome B. York (MGM director) and Armando M. Codina (Merrill Lynch director); they share board seats at GM. This indicates that the two must know each other, which could then influence and facilitate any sort of business activity between MGM and Merrill Lynch.

Another noteworthy connection is shared between Willie Davis and Virgis Colbert, two of Sara Lee Corp’s directors. Colbert is a director at Merrill Lynch, and though Davis is a former director of MGM, he must still have ties to MGM, as he is a current board member of MGM Mirage, which operates a number of Las Vegas resorts and casinos. In conjunction with the connection between York and Codina, Davis’ ties to Colbert may have impacted this generous financing arrangement.

Click here for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map (Internet Explorer browsers only): http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=3d028132-3ade-4960-9462-0ef12e9d6994

Comments

[Reviewer]

Your use of the MGM Mirage logo does not make any sense as there is no connection between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (the privately held movie company that owns UA; http://mgm.mediaroom.com) and MGM Mirage (the publicly traded casino/hotel company that has no interest in MGM; http://www.mgmmirage.com/companyoverview.asp).