Trump's Casinos File for Bankruptcy (Donald, you're Fired!

myway.com ^ | Nov 22, 7:53 AM | myway.com

[crushelits]

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.

Trump's major casinos in New Jersey -- Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and Trump Marina Hotel Casino -- have suffered from competition from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which opened last year.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy case was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

In 1992, Trump's Atlantic City casinos filed for Chapter 11 after buckling under the weight of $1 billion in debt. He later regained control of those properties.

Bear Stearns, Bank of New York Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among the largest creditors, according to the bankruptcy filing. These and other bondholders held stakes in first mortgage notes due 2006, according to the filing.

The restructuring plan forged last month calls for the bondholders to own about two-thirds of the company. Trump's stake would shrink to about 27 percent from 56 percent.

Morgan Stanley agreed to provide a $500 million line of credit, which will be used to renovate and upgrade the casinos and push into new markets. Beal Bank committed to $100 million in interim financing.

The company also owns a riverboat casino in Gary, Indiana, called the Trump Casino Hotel, and manages a casino in California owned by Native Americans. It has said it aims to break into new markets, such as Pennsylvania and Las Vegas.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Trump is a grand con man only in the league with Bill Clinton.

[Gritty]

You're FIRED, Don!

[PeterPrinciple]

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.

So...........who got scammed here? I suspect there are a lot of greedy people who have invested in hotels and casino resorts inc?

[laconic]

Reminds me of the old maxim: THOSE WHO CAN'T, TEACH.

[angkor]

Trump is no fool, he's no doubt learned how to profit from Chapter 11 bankrupties.

[Route101]

Donald duck files for bankruptcy.....another case of the quack milking the system.....

[SoCal Pubbie]

I wonder how many vendors will get screwed in this deal?

[Rodney King]

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

That's a misprint. It has to be $1.5 billion in assets.

[Miss Behave]

I just don't understand his and other high rollers' worlds and how they can do what they do when they go supposedly broke. They come back time after time, with relatively unseemingly no worse for wear. They don't even seem to have shame, and are not treated as such by their professional peers or social circles. It's crazy and pushy and saddening to see that it's just accepted in our society. Mind you, I have no trouble with there being a safety net for those in need, and I applaud self-made go-getting entrepreneurs, but I get bad gut from what I read and what I see around me in my neck of the woods. I would just hang my head in shame to live financially the way I see some do. There is one friend of mine whose husband "made it" huge, then (I was whispered to,) went "BK" (a term I was unfamiliar with, meaning, I was again whispered to--Bankrupt.) Anyway, her husband I guess was "the comeback kid" and they live in a VERY multimillion dollar house, have a nanny for each child, a private jet, and multiple vacation homes. I just don't GET it. She is pleasant, philanthropical, helpful, and she and her husband are very accepted in the local social circles. (I pride myself in being on the fringes of most of these circles--mainly doing my own thing most of the time.) But I see so much of this "hitting it big, going "BK", coming back quickly, and losing no moral ground. My CLOSE friends are nothing of the sort in their makeup, and I love them dearly. But they are the exception it seems at times, in this Limo Lib Land in which I live. It's saddening to me what I see. I want to leave and go live in a cabin on Lake Michigan and shut the world out, except to God's great, beautiful nature-scape and the sweet furry creatures He gave us for our comfort and love.

And Trump has a huge downtown Chicago VERY tall (beautiful) skyscraper project in the works. I just don't get it.

[newgeezer]

What a non-surprise.

Reminds me that I heard the Don on his daily radio spot a few weeks ago telling us all how he knows Paris Hilton and, contrary to all the bad press and exposure she's getting lately, she's really a lovely and intelligent young lady.

I couldn't help but think he's expecting those kind words could help him get into her panties someday soon.

[Miss Behave]

"I wonder how many vendors will get screwed in this deal?"

Yes, I wonder too. It makes me ill. Who do people like this think they are? They throw ANYBODY under the bus, just like the Clintons, to get what they want and where they want to be. There is absolutely NOTHING worse--people treating others this way. And they can get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror?

[You Dirty Rats]

Trump must get his hair from the same vendor as Jailhouse Jim Traficant.

[louscat]

I was in the Taj Mahol yesterday, I sure does need a facelift........so does most of the cocktail girls!

[Liz]

How does Trump do it?

Firstly, the banks---whether they know it or not---are not just lenders, they are literally in business with Trump ---and if he goes down, they go down. The banks cannot allow Trump to go kaput. They have to keep bailing him out.

Banks get into these situations b/c of greed, and wanting to finance high-profile people like Trump, to associate with someone who is a high-roller, who they think will bring home the bacon. The intersst Trump pays must be astronomical.

Trump cleverly uses his image to get banks to finance him. Remember, that everything in real estate is leverage.

Trump has to list all his debts and liabilities, but he can hire clever accountants that can make the books look good, to fool the bankers.

[finnman69]

A lot. Standard operating procedure.

[penowa]

Having spent nearly all my life in a family involved with gambling, both legal and illegal, it just blows me away every time I read about Trump and his financial empire and how it is always either in bankruptcy or on the verge of it. How dreadful a manager can this guy be? The "house" does NOT lose money without working really hard at it!

[Miss Behave]

"I was in the Taj Mahol yesterday, I sure does need a facelift........so does most of the cocktail girls!"

And I'm sure that the Taj Mahol will get its facelift, and if the GIRLS don't, well...they will probably get the "you're fired." ;-)

[Miss Behave]

"I was in the Taj Mahol yesterday, I sure does need a facelift........so does most of the cocktail girls!"

And I'm sure that the Taj Mahol will get its facelift, and if the GIRLS don't, well...they will probably get the "you're fired." ;-)

[the invisib1e hand]

Bankruptcy is seen by some as a sound business strategy. Perhaps in cases of runaway asbestos lawyermongering and the like, it may be. I don't know the circumstances of this deal