Waldorf becomes most expensive hotel ever sold: $1.95 billion

cnbc.com ^ | 10/6/2014 | Robert Frank

[rktman]

The hotel famously called "the greatest of them all" is now the most expensive of them all.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings said it's selling the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95 billion to China-based buyer Anbang Insurance Group.

[rktman]

Guess paris needs a new Bentley or something huh?

[Tennessee Nana]

pretty good for a boy who was once bankrupt...

[Gay State Conservative]

When I was 12 my Dad took me along with him on a business trip to NYC.It was my first time on an airplane (talk about scared!),my first time in New York and my first (and only) time at the Waldorf.I was far too young...and clueless...to appreciate the hotel.It was a pretty nice joint but not as good as Motel 6!

[bert]

Perhaps it is good business.

The mayor is a marxist to the bone. If you can’t make money because the government becomes your pardner, find someone to buy you out and take the diminution of profits and all the nickle and dime union trash.

The Hilton chain can do without the poster child for failing America

[Gay State Conservative]

A Waldorf salad...apples,cheese,grapes....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They overpaid.

[bert]

My mind reflects back in the 80’s and the Japanese problem with too much cash. They had to put it somewhere and US real property was considered a safe place.

The same is now true with the Chinese. Although they may have overpaid, they got the cash to America and perhaps relative safety.

[hosepipe]

[Fightin Whitey]

they got the cash to America and perhaps relative safety

These days probably only if you are a relative of Obama, Holder, Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.

[ontap]

If you can find a sucker more power to you!!!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I remember when Bridgestone got into a bidding war with Pirelli over the mostly dead carcass of Firestone back in the 70s. The Japanese won the bid, paying close to $80 per share for a company that was essentially bankrupt.
It took something near 40 years before their investment got to profitability.

[oh8eleven]

When I was 12 my Dad took me along with him on a business trip to NYC. ... and my first (and only) time at the Waldorf
I grew up (1950s) a few miles east of Manhattan on "Lawn Guyland." Never made it to the Waldorf.
But when I - or any of my 5 siblings - didn't pick up our rooms, got too demanding, etc., my mom would always ask - Where do think you are, the Waldorf Astoria?
She's long gone, but just the mention of the Waldorf brings a smile to my face.

[Mike Darancette]

They will turn the hotel into a dormitory for women to wait out their pregnancies.

[Mike Darancette]

They had to put it somewhere and US real property was considered a safe place.

Many lost their shorts when they had to sell at a loss because there was little revenue.

[Scoutmaster]

Clients have put me up there twice. I tire of Art Deco quickly.

It was a very nice hotel.

I'd rather stay at the Plaza or the Lowell, again, if somebody else were paying.

[Steven Scharf]

The Waldorf Towers (part of the Waldorf building )was General MacArthur’s retirement home. His widow Jean MacArthur lived there until her death in 2000.

Also just learned tha Herbert Hoover also lived there.

[JimRed]

Assuming a continued rate of occupancy consistent with recent figures, how many years will it take for the hotel to turn a profit?