Just four years ago in 2005, Trump Entertainment emerged from its second Chapter 11 filing, and today, the company, along with nine of its affiliates, went down that path for a third time. Certainly, the recession played a significant role in the fate of Trump Entertainment, which operates three casinos and hotels in New Jersey. The company is quick to point out that the Chapter 11 filing will cause no changes in daily operations or the company’s philosophy.
The Chapter 11 filing did not come as a surprise to financial experts, and it certainly won’t hurt Donald Trump who vocally disagreed with the Chapter 11 filing and stated he would resign from the company’s board if it filed for bankruptcy. Looks like he’s moving onto bigger and better things, because according to an article on Reuters, Trump claimed that Trump Entertainment, “represents less than 1 percent of his net worth and that ‘my investment in it is worthless to me now.'” Strong words from the anti-brand champion who vacated the role of CEO of Trump Entertainment after the 2005 bankruptcy problems.
So my questions up for discussion are this – how will the parties involved fare after bankruptcy number three? Will the Trump name remain on the New Jersey casinos? Will Donald Trump continue to garner star power even though his business investments are all over the map in terms of success and failure? Will anyone watch Season 2 of “Celebrity Apprentice”? And yes, I’m being facetious with that last question.
In all seriousness though, Donald Trump is an interesting branding story. Somehow he remains in the public eye despite the number of times his brand is tarnished. He’s like a phoenix rising from the ashes again and again. The Trump name is cyclical in terms of its popularity. It rises, falls, rises and falls again over and over. It might go away for a little while, but then it comes back again even stronger than it was before. Whether you like Donald Trump or not, it is an interesting brand history, both for the Trump companies and Trump the person.
Your thoughts…
Image: Flickr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
Susan:
If I could be an entrepreneur and declare bankruptcy as many times as Trump has…perhaps somebody should step in and say…hold on, Marshall…I think you are talking out of your ass!!! I have been to Trump’s Atlantic City gambling operation…the place is SLEAZY…I felt dirty just being in there.
Trump was born with wealth by the way…he never made it himself. Folly at its highest level. Bonfire of the Vanities, as it were ;-)
The Donald pimps himself out as a great business man, but I believe Rosie is right when she said the man is bankrupt. Morally and economically. I read where they took deposits for a Trump condominium in San Diego, only to obscond with the pre-construction deposits totalling over $32 million. They filed bankruptcy and he resigned. I believe he did the same in Tampa, FL at the same time. I know that during the Bush administration, all legal repurcussions were taken off the table and America was raped and pillaged. I believe he said it best once, when he and his daughter were getting out of their limo in front of Trump Towers, he motioned to a homeless man laying in the street and said, “See that man, he’s got $8 billion more than I do!”