Kirk Kerkorian, the 89-year-old billionaire who was once Chrysler Corp's largest single shareholder, offered to pay $4.5 billion to buy the struggling automaker from DaimlerChrysler, which paid almost $40 billion for it less than a decade ago.
Kerkorian - who made the offer on Thursday through investment vehicle Tracinda Corp - said in a letter to DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board that he was willing to put down a $100 million deposit as a sign of good faith. It was the first publicly disclosed bid for Chrysler and it sent DaimlerChrysler's US-listed shares up almost 5 percent.