Stock Investments

    This page is currently under active development. Significant changes may appear as we add, modify or relocate its contents.

Trump paid the Federal Trade Commission $750,000 to settle antitrust charges that the agency had brought against him. (Washington Post, April 7, 1988)

Alexander's

Alexander's

Steven Roth

Vornado Realty Trust

Golden Nugget

• July, 1987: Trump reported acquiring a 4.9% stake in Golden Nugget, a rival casino firm: “Back home: Trump also has his eye on new turf closer to home. After leaving Moscow, Trump announced that he had bought a 4.9 percent stake in Las Vegas-based Golden Nugget Inc., the casino operator. Trump has already conquered Atlantic City -- buying control of Resorts International Inc., which gave him a total of one-third of that city's casino and hotelspace. His move on Golden Nugget raises many questions. Does he actually want to take over its casino operations? Or does he simply want to make a quick stock killing by playing takeover rumors, as he did with Holiday Corp., or troll for greenmail, as he did with Bally?” (Newsweek, July 20, 1987)

Pillsbury's

• August 2, 1988: Trump announced that he had bought 400,000 shares of Pillsbury stock as a first step toward acquiring a 25% share of the publicly-traded company. “Donald J. Trump, the multimillionaire real estate developer, said he had bought 400,000 shares of the Pillsbury Co. of Minneapolis as an investment. The purchase represents a 0.4 percent stake, but Trump said he was seeking government antitrust clearance to buy nearly 25 percent of the company, the nation's fourth-largest food producer.” (Palm Beach Post, August 2, 1988)
• Donald Trump spent $15 million buying shares of Pillsbury’s through the brokerage of Bear Stearns (which would later be accused by federal officials of giving Trump improper notice of other clients’ major trades). “Mr. Trump, who has a record of buying huge blocks of stock in anticipation of major takeovers, said he had bought $15 million worth of Pillsbury stock over the last week, when nearly 2.5 million shares changed hands. It was the maximum he was able to buy under antitrust regulations. […] Mr. Trump said he had bought the Pillsbury stock through Bear, Stearns & Company, the big Wall Street investment house with which he has often worked.” (New York Times, August 2, 1988)