Trump: The Art of the Deal

DEALING
 
A Week in the Life
 
IDON T do it for the money. I ve got enough, much more than I ll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That s how I get my kicks.
 
Most people are surprised by the way I work. I play it very loose. I don t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. You can t be imaginative or entrepreneurial if you ve got too much structure. I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.
 
There is no typical week in my life. I wake up most mornings very early, around six, and spend the first hour or so of each day reading the morning newspapers. I usually arrive at my office by nine, and I get on the phone. There s rarely a day with fewer than fifty calls, and often it runs to over a hundred. In between, I have at least a dozen meetings. The majority occur on the spur of the moment, and few of them last longer than fifteen minutes. I rarely stop for lunch. I leave my office by six-thirty, but I frequently make calls from home until midnight, and all weekend long.
 
It never stops, and I wouldn t have it any other way. I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That s where the fun is. And if it can t be fun, what s the point?
 
MONDAY
 
9:00 A.M.   My first call is to Alan ( Ace ) Greenberg, on the trading floor of Bear Sterns, a major Wall Street investment banking firm. Alan is the CEO of Bear Sterns, he s been my investment banker for the past five years, and he s the best there is. Two weeks ago, we began buying stock in Holiday Inns. It was selling in the 50s. As of this morning, Alan tells me, I own just over one million shares, or slightly more than 4 percent of the company. The stock closed Friday at $65 a share, mostly, Alan says,

Donald J. Trump is the forty-fifth president of the United States. He is the very definition of the American success story, continually setting standards of excellence while expanding his interests in real estate, gaming, sports, and entertainment. He was named the Hotel and Real Estate Visionary of the Century by the UJA Federation. Trump is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including Time to Get Tough, The America We Deserve, Think Like a Billionaire, How to Get Rich, Surviving at the Top, The Art of the Comeback, and The Art of the Deal. These books have sold millions of copies. An ardent philanthropist, Trump is involved with numerous civic and charitable organizations.

Trump makes one believe for a moment in the American dream again. The New York Times
 
Donald Trump is a deal maker. He is a deal maker the way lions are carnivores and water is wet. Chicago Tribune
 
Fascinating . . . wholly absorbing . . . conveys Trump s larger-than-life demeanor so vibrantly that the reader s attention is instantly and fully claimed. Boston Herald
 
A chatty, generous, chutzpa-filled autobiography. New York Post