CNBC Titans: Donald Trump (Enhanced DVD)

CNBC covers the story of “The Donald,” Donald Trump, starting as a young man working with his father, through the building of a real estate empire that nearly crashed during the 1990s to the rebuilding of the Trump brand.

Trump changed the New York skyline, starting with the purchase of the Hotel Commodore in a rundown part of New York near Grand Central Station. He turned it into a Grand Hyatt hotel. At that time, he married Ivana Zelnickova.

Next was the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, a $200 million project with luxurious offices and condominiums. Trump dominated the high-end real estate market in New York during the 1980s, which he followed by the opening of the Trump Plaza and Trump Castle hotels and casinos in Atlantic City. Trump renovated the ice rink in Wollman Park in New York in record time and on budget, which delighted city officials and the public.

Then he built the $1 billion Taj Mahal in Atlantic City that became a financial disaster due to the recession that occurred in the 1990s. During this period, Trump narrowly escaped complete financial ruin. Trump’s properties were over-loaded with debt. He negotiated with bankers who extended him a bridge loan, sold off assets to reduce his debts from $975 million to $115 million, and then when the economy turned around, he took his casinos public to raise $2 billion to pay off the bankers.

Trump restored the 40 Wall Street building and partnered with other developers on Trump International. By 1997, his personal net worth exceeded $2 billion. He then went on television with “The Apprentice” show, where people compete to work for him. He continues to build his real estate empire being more cautious than before but always mixed with enormous amounts of self-promotion.

CNBC Titans: Donald Trump

• Enhanced DVD
• ISBN: 978-1-62102-286-2
• Run Time: 44 Minutes
• Copyright Date: 2010
• CC