Past investors in Trump brand didn’t do so hot

Q: Can I invest in Donald Trump?

A: Donald Trump has turned his name into gold in the minds of many members of the public. But public investors haven’t had as much luck.

Most of Trump’s financial activities occur within Trump Organization LLC. The company does not offer stock to the public, so performance cannot be readily measured. It mainly owns stakes in a variety of Trump-branded real-estate operations. Investors could invest in a Trump-controlled company in the 1990s: Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Trump had been chairman of the board in the late 1990s, owned 41% of the company in 1999 and drew a $1 million-a-year salary. But investors didn’t do so well. Investors who bought the stock when the company went public in 1995 lost 87% of their money by 1999.

The company also settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for “making misleading statements” in its third-quarter 1999 earnings release. The company isn’t public anymore, was restructured again in February 2016, and Trump hasn’t owned it for years. But in August 2004 he told USA TODAY who benefited.

“People that don’t understand finance might not understand,” Trump said before a bankruptcy protection filing. But “for intelligent people, (the restructuring) enhances the (Trump) brand.”