Story highlights
Trump made more than $200 million as an activist investor
His efforts as a novice, would-be corporate raider bears striking resemblance to the playbook he deployed as a novice politician
(CNN) —
At the height of the US economic boom in the 1980s, there was one clear star of Wall Street: the corporate raider, high-flying takeover artists registering big headlines and even bigger paydays. Naturally, real estate magnate Donald Trump wanted in on the game.
The Atlantic City summer that nearly ruined Donald Trump
For Trump, his brief period as an activist investor of sorts was a lucrative turn in his career – at one point netting him more than $200 million for just a handful of targets – but also a controversial one. His profits were real, but so was the appearance of strategy that brought allegations of stock manipulation from rivals, regulators and lawmakers.
It’s a four year-period Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, never mentions on the campaign trail. Yet his venture into the high-risk, high-reward world of the “Barbarians at the Gate” offers a window into the deal-making strategy that forms the basis for Trump’s presidential campaign – and remains the stated approach the New York billionaire plans to deploy with vigor from the Oval Office should he win.
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President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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The Trump family, circa 1986.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989.
Photos: Donald Trump's rise
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Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve."
