Trump's Business Record in Russia Is Humiliating

[HAB911]

He never had what it takes to negotiate with Moscow

The latest Trump-Russia revelations -- this time concerning a Moscow real estate project scuttled in early 2016 -- fit in well with the comical history of Trump attempts to do business in Russia. They are the latest proof that, unlike many craftier U.S. entrepreneurs and executives, the current U.S. president never figured out how to deal with Russians.

The story began in 1987, when Trump first visited Moscow, then the Soviet capital, and negotiated with bureaucrats from the State Foreign Tourism Committee who offered him an opportunity to build a luxury hotel in Moscow. In a Playboy interview in 1990, Trump recalled that he told the officials it was impossible to get financing for a development project in which the land was "owned by the goddamn motherland." They offered a lease; he wanted ownership. The Soviets also offered to set up a dispute resolution committee consisting of seven Russians and three Trump representatives, a deal Trump didn't like. He came away thinking, correctly, that the Soviet system was a "disaster." The Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, according to Trump, didn't have "a firm enough hand" -- which didn't prevent the flustered developer from crowing how honored he was when Gorbachev impersonator Ron Knapp paid him a surprise visit in Manhattan a year later.

In the Soviet Union's last years, Communist officials had been eager for deals with Western capitalists; as with Trump, they always tried to impose their ridiculous terms. That didn't stop companies such as McDonald's from doing business in Moscow. The fast food giant set up a 50-50 joint venture with the Moscow city government to open its first restaurant on city-owned premises in 1990. It was a brilliant move that led to fast expansion: There are 614 McDonald's restaurants in Russia today. Coca-Cola supplied its concentrate to the Soviet Union in exchange for Lada cars it struggled to sell in the West -- but it has never regretted the arrangement because it immediately knew what to do when Russia opened up to private business. Trump wasn't into that kind of long-term thinking, though, and he missed his chance.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-29/trump-s-business-record-in-russia-just-got-more-humiliating

[uponit7771]

1. No wonder Trump was never a high roller in NY, it wasn't the amount of money its the way he ran ...

... things like a mom and pop.

He was never big time, that was our fucked up media

[ProfessorGAC]

2. And Once Again, I Will Use The Forbes Analysis

When he inherited what he inherited (plus the loan from 5 or 6 years earlier he never had to pay back) and had simply done a broad distribution in several sectors, (DJIA, S&P, NASDAQ, smattering of venture capital, a little in commodities, etc.) even with the downturn in the early 90's and the mid-2-aughts, a weighted average yield over that term would have been 10.2%, he would have accumulated 32.57 times the money.

Even living like a king, at 3 million a year after taxes then and around 45 million a year now, the net worth would, today be around 7.5 billion dollars.

So, this "great" businessman claims a net worth of 64% (assuming that number is even true) of what i otherwise would have been had he done NOTHING except let the money sit in the markets.

All the deal making, deal breaking, shafting people, defrauding and conning people ended up costing at the very least $2.7 billion in potential earnings. And that's supposed to be success in business.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Russians are tough negotiators, always have been...

Just look at the history of being allied with them in WWII and after, through being opposed in the Cold War.

I've never felt that Trump was worth a shit in negotiating in any situation where he couldn't fall back on lawsuits and having lawyers 'negotiate' for him.

As a side note, Middle Easterners are pretty tough bargainers, too.

[HAB911]

4. This is the guy that promises to help Texas rebuild

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