Trump Casinos' ticker restored to coincide with former president's media IPO
A ticker symbol used by former President Donald Trump's casino business in the late 1990s is expected to return to Wall Street soon.
In a major victory for Trump on Monday morning, a New York appeals court agreed not to seize the Republican presidential candidate's assets if he posts a $175 million bond within 10 days. The bond, or surety, request comes after Trump was ordered to pay $454 million in a civil fraud verdict. Trump is appealing the ruling.
Trump plans to raise legal fees by promoting his social media platform, Truth Social. The billionaire wants to merge his Trump Media Technology Group with Digital World Acquisition. (DWAC) is a Miami-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with ties to Trump.
DWAC shareholders approved the merger with Trump Media & Technology on Friday. In exchange for acquiring Truth Social, Trump will receive nearly 80 million shares of DWAC stock. With shares hovering around $44 early Monday afternoon, Trump's position would be worth more than $3.5 billion.
Casino Code
Much of Trump's wealth comes from building, owning and selling prime real estate in Manhattan. But his investments in the Atlantic City and Indiana casino industries also played a role.
In 1995, he founded Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "DJT." Trump's middle name is John.
After THCR went bankrupt in 2004, the company changed its name to Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump Entertainment Resorts trades under the symbol "TRMP."
The billionaire's casino developments include Atlantic City's Trump Plaza (demolished), Trump World Expo (demolished), Trump Castle (now the Golden Nugget) and the Trump Taj Mahal ( Now hard rock). Trump also operates the riverboat Trump Casino in Gary, Indiana.
When DWAC completes its acquisition of Truth Social, the blank-check company will list on the Nasdaq exchange and re-enable the "DJT" symbol.
Trump left the gambling industry long before Atlantic City came clean. Trump’s casino business went bankrupt three times, in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Fellow Billionaire Carl Icahn acquired Trump Entertainment Resorts for an undisclosed amount in early 2016 and continued to use the Trump brand until closing the company's remaining property, Special Properties, in October 2016. Trump Taj Mahal.
Icahn blamed the local casino alliance for the Boardwalk resort's financial woes. In 2017, he sold the abandoned resort to Hard Rock International for just $50 million. Hard Rock, controlled by Florida's Seminole Tribe, poured more than $500 million into the resort, which reopened in June 2018.
Trump Beneficiaries
Trump's public companies have made the casino mogul extremely wealthy. For many investors, this is not the case.
When THCR went public in 1995, shares were first priced at $14 per share and more than 10 million shares were sold. A year later, the stock was trading at $35. Trump cashed out many stocks during the campaign and received large salaries and bonuses.
CNBC reports that THCR lost $66 million even though its stock price hit an all-time high in 1997. In 2004, the company lost $134 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
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Source: www.casino.org
