MGM Resorts International (MGM) founder Kirk Kerkorian on Wednesday completed the sale of 20 million shares in the gaming giant, according to a person with knowledge of the situation Wednesday.

The move continues an ongoing, yet slow movement by the 94-year-old and one-time majority shareholder to distance himself from the casino company he developed into a giant force on the Las Vegas Strip through building and acquisitions.

After the sale, Kerkorian's stake via his private investment company, Tracinda Corp., will drop from 27% to about 22%, or 111 million shares of MGM. Based on Wednesday's closing price of $11.54 a share, the sale was worth about $230.8 million. A representative from Tracinda couldn't immediately comment on the matter, and a MGM Resorts spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment.

The company's stock dropped 5.72% to $10.88 a share in after-market trading.

Kerkorian said in January that he "saw substantial value in the assets of MGM Resorts" but might explore potential transactions and a few months later, he stepped down from the board.

Kerkorian was MGM's controlling shareholder until a stock offering in 2009. Late last year, Tracinda participated in a company offering and pared its stake by about 32 million shares, securing a roughly $400 million profit.

The billionaire investor's stake was worth nearly $15 billion when the company's stock was at an all-time high in late 2007. Then in early 2009--when Wall Street worried that its expensive CityCenter project coupled with a brutal downturn would drag the company into bankruptcy--the stake was only worth about $300 million.

MGM Resorts is slowly emerging from the economic downturn that curbed visits to its casino resorts and recently reported in its second-quarter earnings signs of improvement.

-By Alexandra Berzon and A.D. Pruitt, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2197; angela.pruitt@dowjones.com

--Maxwell Murphy contributed to this article.

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