Donald Trump biography

In 1988 he acquired the Plaza Hotel for $407 million and spent $50 million refurbishing it under his wife Ivana's direction.

Ups and Downs of Business

Trump reached south to build a condominium project in West Palm Beach, Florida, and in 1989 he branched out to purchase the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle for $365 million, renaming it the Trump Shuttle. In January 1990, Trump flew to Los Angeles to unveil a plan to build a $1 billion commercial and residential project featuring a 125-story office building.

It was in 1990, however, that the real estate market declined, reducing the value of and income from Trump's empire; his own net worth plummeted from an estimated $1.7 billion to $500 million. The Trump Organization required a massive infusion of loans to keep it from collapsing, a situation which raised questions as to whether the corporation could survive bankruptcy. Some observers saw Trump's decline as symbolic of many of the business, economic, and social excesses that had arisen in the 1980s.

Yet, he climbed back from nearly $900 million in the red: Donald Trump was reported to be worth close to $2 billion in 1997.

Personal Life, Politics, and Reality TV

Donald Trump's image was tarnished by the publicity surrounding his controversial separation and the later divorce from his wife, Ivana. But he married again, this time to Marla Maples, a fledgling actress. The couple had a daughter two months before their marriage in 1993. He filed for a highly publicized divorce from Maples in 1997, which became final in June 1999. A prenuptial agreement allotted $2 million to Maples. In January 2005, Trump married for a third time in a highly publicized wedding to model Melania Knauss, who gave birth to a son, Barron William Trump, in March 2006; it was her first child and Trump's fifth.

On October 7, 1999, Trump announced the formation of an exploratory committee to inform his decision of whether or not he should seek the Reform Party's nomination for the presidential race of 2000.

A state appeals court ruled on August 3, 2000, that Trump had the right to finish an 856-foot-tall condominium. The Coalition for Responsible Development had sued the city, charging it was violating zoning laws by letting the building reach heights that towered over everything in the neighborhood. The city has since moved to revise its rules to prevent more such projects. The failure of Trump's opponents to obtain an injunction allowed him to continue construction.

In 2004 Trump began starring in the NBC reality series The Apprentice, which quickly became a hit. In later years the show began showcasing celebrities as contestants under the revised name The Celebrity Apprentice. 

In 2012 Trump's flirtation with politics returned when he pubicly announced he was considering running for president again. However, his association with the "Birther" movement, a fringe group that staunchly believed President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, discredited his reputation politically to varying degree. Regardless, Trump has continued to be vocal against President Obama—not only regarding his place of birth—but also on a variety of his political policies.

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