Posted on 11/22/2004 7:43:04 AM PST by edcoil
Trump's Casinos File for Bankruptcy Email this Story
Nov 22, 7:53 AM (ET)
Hey Donald,
Nice job... Would you allow one of your rookies to do this to one of your companies?
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Donald Trump's casino operations filed for bankruptcy Sunday in a long-expected move that would allow the real estate maverick to restructure the company's debt and overhaul its aging casinos.
Trump, the developer who flaunts his brusque business style on "The Apprentice" reality television show, last month clinched a restructuring pact with bondholders that would cut his stake in the company but preserved his role as chairman and chief executive.
Under the voluntary bankruptcy filing, Trump Atlantic City Associates, which is 99 percent owned by Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., listed $1.3 billion in debt and $1.5 million in assets. It marks the second bankruptcy for Trump's casino empire.
One of these days he might actually become solvent.
I cannot help but believe that Trump is performing a sophisticated financial maneuver that will make him even richer at the expense of someone else.
Donald Trump himself is a walking example of how not to do business. He is a joke - no one has ever lost more money in Atlantic City than Trump.
And after seeing the Borgata, who would want to stay in one of his dumps, anyway?
I'm familiar with the details of the transaction as laid out in the public SEC filings.
This really gals me.
This jerk thinks bankruptcy is a great way of life, and
he is the toast of the town.
Poor guys like me are treated like scum if we miss a few monthly payments on a mastercard.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. Donald Trump's father was the real business genius who built a real estate empire from scratch."
As a matter of interest, has Trump increased our decreased the families wealth since he inherited?
And the Trump shell game plays on.
C'mon alex- With that hairpiece, hasnt he suffered enough?
How true! Trump, Mr. Art of the Deal, was suckered big time by Merv Griffin, who sold him those Atlantic city properties for multiples of what they were actually worth.
Donald Trump is just a marketer. That is all he has ever been and that is all he ever will be. His product is himself. He is not a businessman and I tend to laugh when he is called one. His skill is in creating glamor and intrigue around his own name. I suppose that is his greatest asset.
I suppose it takes quite a bit of talent to create an image like his... I'm not sure most can (or would be willing to). But he definitely is not a great businessman.
Donald Trump is a pompous toad.
No sympathy here. Trump is getting exactly what he needs and wants: a permanent respite from creditors, restructuring and the use of OPM (other peoples' monies) while he rebuilds.
He's a charlatan and a lowlife scumbag. He's got to be a liberal-demokkkRAT, since he never takes responsibility for anything. It's always someone else's fault.
I'll put it this way - real estate prices in Manhattan have skyrocketed.
So if Trump has a building which his dad owned back in 1964 where each unit was valued at $25,000 and each unit is now valued at $1,000,000, one can say that Trump has increased his father's wealth by 400%.
However, his father originally acquired the building with a view to its appreciation in value: does Donmald Trump deserve credit for simply holding onto a portfolio his dad created?
I don't think so.
Trump's business acumen should be judged by his foray into the casino world - that's the part of the family business that Donald started all by himself, that he didn't inherit from his father.
By all financial measures, that project has been an unmitigated disaster, with a string of bankruptcies, red ink, etc.
400x not 400%.
"C'mon alex- With that hairpiece, hasnt he suffered enough?"
Look....I am also slick as a brick :P
However, you need to get people in the door first before they can lose money to you.
In AC or Vegas, that can be very expensive, since all the casinos offer all the same games - the only difference is the trappings.
The pricier and classier the environment, the more people come in the door.
Mr. Trump seems incapable of providing such an environment on terms that make economic sense.
"C'mon alex- With that hairpiece, hasnt he suffered enough?"
I think it's his real hair myself.
I mean, with his resources, if he was going to get a wig...
..he'd get a better one than that wouldn't he?
Great point! The Trump business was completely debt free until "The Donald" took over and convinced his father to mortgage everything to raise money for expansion (I read the biography a few years back).
Couldn't look more fake if it had a chin strap.
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Donald Trump's casino operations filed for bankruptcy Sunday in a long-expected move that would allow the real estate maverick to restructure the company's debt and overhaul its aging casinos.
I cannot help but believe that Trump is performing a sophisticated financial maneuver that will make him even richer at the expense of someone else.
Exactly.
(The really great men are always simple and true)
I would bet Trump is pulling out the Kmart play book. Kmart gave the shaft to the shareholders even though the asset out weighed the liabilities enough to buy Sears.
Unless there's someone willing to merge their successful operations with his unsuccessful operations I highly doubt it.
Kmart gave the shaft to the shareholders even though the asset out weighed the liabilities enough to buy Sears.
Acquisitions have almost nothing to do with asset/liability ratios. The merger consideration for the Kmart/Sears transaction was $11B in value. As of today, Kmart has $11B in liabilities and $11.2B in assets. The excess of book assets to liabilities is less than 2% of the total. This $200M in excess would represent only pennies per share.
In other words: If I were a Sears employee I wouldn't be very happy today?
But I don't think the usual downsizing that follows such mergers will be particularly pronounced.
More like 4000% actually.
See post 15.
If you borrow $100,000 the bank owns you. If you borrow $1 billion, you own the bank.
Last week's episode featured a scene where the Donald in his limo calls his secretary and tells her to cancel all his appointments for the rest of the day, he was going to meet with his potential apprentices. That show is so scripted, I had to laugh.
I note that his right hand man, George, is more and more away on business trips. I also heard that George had to sue last year to get paid for his appearances on the show.
And your impression is correct - I've met him in person unfortunately, and he's a joke.
Maybe I don't know $#!+ from shinola, but how the heck do you go broke running a casino? I thought that was sort of a license to print money?
Also, if you go to AC you'll see that his facilities are full of the elderly and Spanish-speaking day laborers.
The Borgata is full of European tourists and young professionals.
Thanks. It would seem that if you want people to lose money to you, you'd best go after those who have some.
His properties in NY are known for having fairly cheap construction and lots of cut corners.
Trump buys property in a sexy location and then markets the hell out of it while at the same time saving as much money as he can on the construction costs.
I heard this weekend that a few years ago he and his daughter were walking along and passed a street bum. Donald said to his daughter to to pity the man too much as the guy was about 400 million richer than her daddy. Supposedly he was $400 million in debt at the time.
That's always been my view more or less. I'm $1.8 billion richer than this clown because I don't have the debt. Why would anyone want to take business advice from a guy who can't pay his bills? I know that in my little home improvement business customers will occasionally want to check my credit report before agreeing to do business with me - so why would anyone want to write a check to "The Donald"?
Donald Trump = A glorified salesman. He is nothing more than Ron Popeil with larger assets.
Then again, to my knowledge, Ronco never filed for bankruptcy.
So the Castle and Taj Mahal might as well be in Seaside Heights? ;-)
Ping!
He is scum and a pig.
I saw this coming as soon as Trump started making those appearances in MasterCard commercials; the television series was just the icing on the cake. Successful real estate and/or casino moguls generally do not embark on those sorts of endeavors unless they are financially strapped.
I'd love to see the next winner of his "Apprentice" series show rare back on his/her hind legs and tell the Donald: "You're fired!! I ain't working for a scumbag like you!" Right on national TV. In front of God and everybody!
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