The activist investor Carl Icahn revealed his plans to sell the closed Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Currently, the billionaire is a special adviser to the US President Trump, who originally owned the casino.
It is most likely for Icahn to sell the Taj Mahal casino at a loss, which is still preferable instead of make a further investment of between $100 and $200 to make the casino going once again. The casino was closed by the activist investor in October 2016, after facing some difficulties. At this point, Icahn failed to reach an agreement and a new contract with union employees.
Once the pearl in crown of the empire of Donald Trump, the Taj Mahal casino has experienced a lot of difficulties. It was one of the three properties owned by the now-President of the US in the state of New Jersey, but with Trump eventually losing control of the casinos through a series of bankruptcies, Carl Icahn became the sole owner of the casino through his investment firm Icahn Enterprises.
Carl Icahn has also faced the wrath of the legislators of New Jersey, as the latter accused him of intentionally closing the casino for a short period of time in order to later reopen it with lower wages for employees and smaller benefits. In order to stop this from happening, the legislature of the state passed a special bill in 2016. Under the provisions of the bill, all individuals who closed a casino since the beginning of 2016 would be banned from holding a gambling operating licence on the territory of the state for a period of 5 years.
The Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie vetoed the piece of legislation, and still, Carl Icahn protested against its sponsor – the democrat Stephen Sweeney, who is the President of the New Jersey Senate. He shared his belief that other large investors would also lose their interest in making further large investments in Atlantic City or New Jersey as a whole until Stephen Sweeney was President of the Senate.
On the other hand, Senate’s President Sweeney criticised Chris Christie’s decision to veto the bill. He claimed that the only person who would draw benefit from the veto decision was the activist investor Carl Icahn. In his opinion, bankrupcy laws and casino licensing regulations would be exploited and manipulated by Icahn at the expense of the employees and their families.
- Author
Daniel Williams
