Episode summary
Trump News Helped Fund Reap Gains From Share Sales | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 6 min · Hosts: Tim Stenovec, Carol Massar · Guests: Christina Ruffini, Lisa Mateo, Zachary Mider
Summary
A Bloomberg analysis says an investment firm tied to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. used news about their involvement to help market small-cap deals, then sold stock into the attention. In the cases highlighted, the firm sold shares on the same day the Trump connection was disclosed, including one deal in which it sold 6 million shares while retail investors were being brought in. The story argues that the Trump name can create a surge of interest in thinly traded companies that otherwise would not attract much attention.
The guest says the deals do not appear to involve any allegation of fraud or misrepresentation, and the Trump sons say they are passive investors who are not making the investment decisions. Still, the reporting raises questions about conflicts of interest and whether the strategy amounts to using political celebrity to inflate demand. The guest also notes that the outside investors in these deals have generally seen the shares fall after the announcements, while the firm appears to have already locked in gains or positioned itself to do so.
The segment draws a parallel to Trump-linked crypto investments, where the family has done well even as some outside buyers have not. The broader point is that this corner of the microcap market often resembles venture capital: most bets struggle, but the hope is that one deal will “go to the moon.”
Key takeaways
- The guest says the firm tied to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. sold shares on the same day it disclosed their involvement in at least one deal.
- The reported pattern is that American Ventures gained or is on track to gain while outside investors in the same stocks saw losses.
- The guest says the companies involved are often microcaps with little revenue, making Trump-name publicity especially valuable.
- The Trump sons say they are passive investors and not making the investment decisions.
- The guest sees a parallel between these stock deals and Trump-linked crypto investments, where outside buyers have not fared as well.
Notable quotes
“when they announced the merger and said the Trumps were involved, the first time anyone heard it, the Trumps were involved, they were actually selling stock that day”
“They sold 6 million of stock. So at the same time they were bringing retail investors in to buy, they were actually uh you know reducing their position in in the company”
“These are not stocks that folks like you are talking about every day on the air. They're they're um they're very small small market cap and not a lot of profit or or or revenue”
“the Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric have said, "Look, we're just passive investors in this fund”
“the Trump family has done pretty well on its crypto investments when some of the outside investors who bought into those uh cryptocurrency transactions didn't do as well”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — One Monday in March, a small golf course operator announced it was merging with a wait for it drone maker. Odd, yes, but not likely to draw, you know, a ton of attention except for one detail. The merger was backed by uh an investment firm to do with Eric Trump and Don Jr.
Here to explain this more, uh Bloomberg News reporter Zachary Mer, thanks for coming back here to Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Okay, you have to explain this. I mean, investors jumped on board. What? What's going on? — Yeah, the first question I wrote was, "Huh? Huh? What?"
Right. Right. So, you see this a lot in the kind of um weird corner of the market that the Trump sons, Don Jr.
and Eric Trump are operating in. They're working with an investment bank that they own a stake in called Dominary that does a lot of work with like these what you call micro cap companies. These are like companies that often don't have any profit or even revenue.
And sometimes they're not a lot more than just kind of a empty public shell of a company. And so, um, one of the things that they they sometimes do is they'll take a a company that doesn't have a lot of prospects but has a listing and then merge it with another thing that sounds more exciting and, uh,
Like drones. — Exactly. Like drones, which are sort of hot right now, — Right? And so, uh, what our story was that we published today looked at, um, what is this fund actually doing? Because by publicizing the Trump's involvement, it kind of sounds like that's a a boost, a vote of confidence in the future of these businesses.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- trump-linked investments
- stock sales
- share profits
- passive investors
- market impact of media coverage
Companies and tickers mentioned
- American Ventures
Watch the episode
Watch “Trump News Helped Fund Reap Gains From Share Sales | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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