Kerkorian Hires Ex-Chrysler Official

Kirk Kerkorian’s quest for more control of Chrysler Corp. gained credibility and firepower Tuesday with his announcement he had hired Jerome B. York as a top executive of his Las Vegas-based investment company.

York was chief financial officer of Chrysler when he left in 1993 to take that job at International Business Machines Corp. Since then, he’s been getting credit for helping return the giant computer company to profitability.

By bailing out at IBM to become vice chairman of Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp., York sent a strong signal to Wall Street.

“I don’t think he would have joined Tracinda unless he thought Kerkorian had a very good chance of taking over Chrysler,” said David Healy, an analyst for Burnham Securities Inc.

In a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tracinda said it “may seek” a seat on the Chrysler board for York.

The price of Chrysler stock climbed after the announcement and IBM fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Chrysler closed Tuesday at $57.12-1/2, up $2.50 a share. IBM was down $1.62-1/2 at $101.12-1/2 a share.