Donald Trump is shutting down Trump Mortgage, the mortgage lending company he launched with an audacious press conference in the atrium at Trump Tower.
This is a very special moment for DealBreaker because we covered the launch back in April. It was one of those burning, shining moments that mark market manias. A half dozen television cameras crowded the room. A crowd of onlookers cheered as the Donald, the Donald Jr and Trump Mortgage CEO E.J. Ridings entered. Small children were dressed like Donald Trump. People sipped from bottles of water bearing Trump’s likeness.
Even the Donald seemed stunned. "If you had told me we would have had this many people for a friggin' mortgage company opening--give me a break," he told the crowd.
Of course, most of the crowd was not attending because they were super-excited about a new mortgage company. They were there because the Donald is a money culture celebrity, complete with his own catch-phrase. And Donald let them have what they wanted—his own version of “Whachoo talkin’ ‘bout Willis?”
As we wrote way back in April 2006:
It takes exactly three minutes before The Donald finally gives the crowd what they've come for. He tells them that this is going to be a very successful company.
"If it's not," Donald says turning to the President, "EJ…you're fired!"
As it turns out, it wasn’t a successful company and EJ Riding wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. It aimed to do about $3 billion of business but barely reached $1 billion. And then Money Magazine looked into the claims that Riding was "a top executive at one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks" with fifteen years of experience in the financial industry. It turned out that his “Wall Street” experience consisted of working for a few months as a broker for Dean Witter back in 1998. But, you know, he had run a cleaning business and a vitamin company. And that’s pretty much the same thing, right?
Trump hardly seems chagrined about the failure of Trump mortgage. In fact, he is outrageously trying to distance himself from it. “Trump played down his role in Trump Mortgage, saying it was just a licensing deal and he didn't have an ownership stake,” according to the New York Post. Sorry, Donald, we’re not buying that line. We were there. You and Junior were all over this thing. So we're scoring this as a loss for you, and a win for us.
For those of you keeping track at home, that makes the score:
Donald Trump: $2,600,000,000.00
DealBreaker: 2
Trump Mortgage Flop Tried To Credentials Flap [New York Post]
Posted by SDH , Aug 07, 2007 1:43PM
Trump has had many business failures. Announced with major buzz only to fall off in a following months, but I guess thats just business. Anyone know how his travel site is doing? What he needs to be focused on is modernizing his hotels and casinos in New Jersey among other things and stop trying to slap his name on everything he possibly can. Soon there will be a Trump edition Escalade or something! His latest is Trump Office furniture! Soon maybe TrumpDates.com or some crazy shit.
Posted by jt , Aug 07, 2007 1:44PM
great news for the donald, riding high after the casino business reported a worse-than-expected loss (big surprise).
Honestly how the f&ck do you loose money running a casino? Its the easiest profit producing machine you can operate (legally), what a jackass.
Posted by Sam 'Ace' Rothstein , Aug 07, 2007 2:01PM
Lose money? You wanna know? You wanna know? I'll tell you how it happens. Have every Native American tribe in the USA open up a casino on their reservation that we generously gave to them some time back. Like blueberries in a muffin, scarcity of gaming has to be consistent for profits to be consistent!
Cowboys over Indy Thursday nite.......It's a lock.
Posted by always a cover bid , Aug 07, 2007 2:05PM
The first Trump CDO 2007-1 prices this week.
Posted by whenn , Aug 07, 2007 2:09PM
dear steve wynn,
please please come to atlantic city, knock it down, and build us a new gaming mecca (with express train service from nyc).
thanks,
non-disgruntled degenerat-prick gamblers of greater new york
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 2:09PM
Only the average American idiot believe Trump is a good businessman. Just look at his companies' bankruptcies in the 1990s and his near personal bankruptcy. He's a shill and a charlatan who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.
Posted by P.T. Barnum , Aug 07, 2007 2:13PM
No man has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
Write that down.
Posted by Chief YuraMoron , Aug 07, 2007 2:26PM
Rothstein @ 2:01
"on their reservation that we generously gave to them some time back"
You can't be serious right? We threw these people off the land they'd been on for hundreds of years and then give them the shittiest land imaginable and we're generous?
Posted by Chief YuraMoron , Aug 07, 2007 2:26PM
Rothstein @ 2:01
"on their reservation that we generously gave to them some time back"
You can't be serious right? We threw these people off the land they'd been on for hundreds of years and then give them the shittiest land imaginable and we're generous?
Posted by anon , Aug 07, 2007 2:28PM
fucking jewbag
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 2:41PM
Trump isn't one of the gang
Posted by slimjim , Aug 07, 2007 2:55PM
Chief YuraMoron, i had a vision quest that i fucked your sister last night. Manifest Destiny you piece of shit. We should have thrown the savages off a cliff, you drunk liberal jew fag. Vote for Hillary you cocksucker.
Posted by anon , Aug 07, 2007 3:06PM
oh my, we're getting very hostile here. I mean, I hate heebs as much as the next guy but let's try and be civil!
Posted by anon#2 , Aug 07, 2007 3:15PM
anyone want to bet whether slim james has a poster of himmler on his wall? and there's no evidence the chief has been drinking.
Posted by yea right , Aug 07, 2007 3:21PM
so anon 3:06 you hate Bess, who is very likely a heeb, sure
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 3:22PM
has anyone found a pic of bess yet?
Posted by Movie Fan , Aug 07, 2007 3:24PM
Sam "Ace" Rothstein was the fictional owner of a fictional casino in the movie "Casino". I think the poster was trying to be funny. He might have been distracted by the Chief's "man-tits" however.
I think the Chief was aptly named.
Posted by Maimonides , Aug 07, 2007 3:24PM
I'm 98 bid she's one of us
Posted by actual movie fan , Aug 07, 2007 3:28PM
pretty sure Rothstein wasn't the owner (at least not of a substantial stake) of the casino in the movie, but was in charge of floor operations, before being president after it was found he didn't have his gaming license, among other positions.
Posted by anon , Aug 07, 2007 3:32PM
yah, Rothstein managed the place for the guys who owned the meat shop
Posted by for real , Aug 07, 2007 3:33PM
the other DB writers are on facebook, tell me no one's looked for a pic of bess yet??
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 3:34PM
Actual is correct. Rothstein started out as a handicapper in Chicago, then was sent to Vegas to "manage" the Tangiers while Green was the titular head of the casino. Rothstein couldn't get a license due to his Mafia ties, but could work without one so long as his application was pending. Thus he would switch jobs and each time re-apply for his license.
Posted by Baruch Singer , Aug 07, 2007 3:47PM
Let's stop all the arguing here. We can all agree that Jews are disgusting, self-loathing, dishonest, cheating, slum lords. No need to fight over specifics.
Posted by Lothar , Aug 07, 2007 3:49PM
fair skinned gentile.
http://equityprivate.typepad.com/ep/2007/05/much_ado_about_.html
Posted by Natural Gas Traders Hall of Fame , Aug 07, 2007 3:51PM
I don't think so, Baruch. If what you said was true they'd all be natural gas traders. We don't see that skew in our database of natural gas "players".
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 3:55PM
Not bad. But there's no way she's a goyim; she ran in the Maccabi Games for crying out loud, and her DB bio refers to her bat mitzvah
Posted by judas maccabi , Aug 07, 2007 4:01PM
holler fellow maccabi games alum, north jersey woo
Posted by Matthaus , Aug 07, 2007 4:02PM
Lothar,
I don't know many gentiles who had bat mitzvahs, do you?
Posted by Sushruta , Aug 07, 2007 4:03PM
That nose.... it's a popular choice.
Posted by von Trotha , Aug 07, 2007 4:11PM
Matthaus,
I'm not permitted to speak to the uncircumcised, so I'm not familiar with their customs.
Posted by Ajax , Aug 07, 2007 4:25PM
Lothar, kudos on the work in South-West Africa...
Posted by shylock , Aug 07, 2007 4:26PM
I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.
Posted by , Aug 07, 2007 4:37PM
Lothar, for the millionth time, that's Kate "Blue Crush" Bosworth on EquityPrivate, not our dear Ms. Levin.
Posted by LVT , Aug 07, 2007 4:39PM
My bad. (I knew that pasty, bacon eating bitch wasn't Ms. Levin.)
Posted by anon anon anon , Aug 07, 2007 5:37PM
I'm glad you moved on to other topics.
Posted by anon , Aug 07, 2007 10:18PM
Ah, Jews. Those money lending hucksters! We're nothing like them!
Posted by 1 MoreThing , Aug 08, 2007 6:23PM
Will you look at the racist - bastards on this blog.
The story is about Donald Trump. How quickly this has denegrated to name calling and slur hurling.
You are the same people who would swear if confronted --- "I'm not a racist - I'm not a Bigot".
Despicable --- hiding behind a blog ---- spewing these vile comments.
Closet KKK members!
It's 2007....NOT 1950.
Posted by Ballerest Baller of all Time , Aug 09, 2007 6:58PM
Wasn't Lee Bienstock (a la The Apprentice) hired on as the AVP Corporate Development at Trump Mortgage after he "got fired" last year?
He's done like cajun toast.
Source: http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/19377/Donald_Trump_Hires_Lee_Bienstock.html