ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Donald Trump wrote “The Art Of The Deal,” but it was Florida’s Seminole Indians who made a truly amazing deal to buy the opulent casino built by the man who is now president of the United States.
The Trump Taj Mahal, the Atlantic City casino that the real estate mogul built for $1.2 billion in 1990, went for 4 cents on the dollar when it was sold in March. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the price that billionaire Carl Icahn got from Hard Rock International for the shuttered casino: $50 million. The sale was publicized at the time, though the purchase price wasn’t.
Trump, now the nation’s 45th president, dubbed the Taj Mahal “the eighth wonder of the world” when it opened. He cut most of his ties with Atlantic City in 2009, though he retained a small stake in its parent company in return for the right to use his name.
That remaining stake was wiped out last year when Icahn acquired the parent company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, from bankruptcy. Icahn and Atlantic City’s main casino workers’ union were unable to agree on a new contract to restore health insurance and pension benefits, and the union went on strike in July.
In October, Icahn shut the casino down, saying he saw no way to make a profit from it, and lamenting losses of $350 million on it.