Donald Trump isn’t losing any sleep over choosing which of his three oldest children will inherit his real estate empire: They all are. The brazen mogul-reality star intends for Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric – their mother is Ivana – take over different aspects of the Trump Organization.
“My kids are treated very equally,” Trump, infamous for his bluster, told the Wall Street Journal. “I think, and I hope, for their own sake, that they’ll be able to get along…It’s not a deal where there’s going to be one person succeeding me.”
Ivanka, for example, has been the lead negotiator on many of the company’s biggest deals, such as the $150 million acquisition of the Doral golf resort in Miami and the $48 million debt buy at the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. Big brother Donald Jr., is drawn toward leasing; Eric, the youngest of the three, is all about construction.
Trump’s decision to have more than one heir would be unusual in an industry where ordinarily only one child is tapped or steps up to run a family’s business. Notable examples include Douglas Durst, who took over for father Seymour, and Bill Rudin, who succeeded father Lewis.
“In real estate it’s usually one person,” William Zabel, a founding partner of the law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel, told the Journal. “You have to give one of them the mantle and hope that it works.”
A handful of dynasties, such as the mighty Feil Organization, are going through succession battles; others, such as Rockrose Development and TF Cornerstone, made the decision to split to avoid a family feud. Trump,too, acknowledged the potential for tension, telling the newspaper that “succession is usually a disaster, whether it’s because of jealousy or something else.” [WSJ]
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