In 1971, he moved to Studio apartment in Manhattan, New York and became involved with larger building projects. In the following year, he finalized first multi-million dollar real estate transaction with the sale of Swifton village in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 1985, he bought Mar-a-lago estate in Palm beach, Florida and renovated the Barbizon hotel and 100 Central Park South.
In 1988, he bought the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
In 1989, he bought a fleet of Boeing 727 airplanes to form Trump air shuttle service. Unfortunately a helicopter crash killed three Trump casino executives which lead to big issue.
By 1989, poor business decisions left him unable to meet loan payments but he somehow financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 million Taj Mahal, with high-interest junk bonds. The increasing debt soon brought him to business bankruptcy.
In 1990, he regained his previous stable financial position and fame and opened the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Soon he gained approval for Riverside south development of West Side rail yards.
In 1996, he got the ownership of Miss Universe Organization which produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Tean USA pageants.
In 2003, he became joint partner with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) where he became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show, ‘The Apprentice’ which became a huge success. Following its success, he co-produced a show, ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ along with British TV producer Mark Burnett.
On October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels and Casino & Resorts declared a restructuring of its debt which led to a reduction in his individual ownership from 56 percent to 27 percent. The company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November and soon the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as ‘Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings’.
