The Trump Organization

Who owns The Trump Organization?
Assets are held through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, with Donald Trump as beneficiary and Donald Trump Jr. as trustee. Eric Trump and Don Jr. run day-to-day operations.

Is The Trump Organization publicly traded?
No. It is private. Separately, Donald Trump is the dominant shareholder of Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT), the Truth Social company, which is legally distinct from The Trump Organization.

When was The Trump Organization founded?
Fred Trump founded the business in 1927 in Queens, New York, as Elizabeth Trump & Son. Donald Trump took control in 1971 and gave it the current name.

What does The Trump Organization own?
Commercial buildings including Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street, luxury hotels, more than a dozen golf courses and clubs including Mar-a-Lago, plus a licensing operation covering branded buildings, products and ventures such as Trump Mobile.

Who runs The Trump Organization during the presidency?
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both executive vice presidents, manage operations under an ethics framework that delegates control to the children with an outside ethics adviser monitoring major actions.

What is Trump Mobile?
A wireless service and smartphone venture launched in June 2025 by licensee T1 Mobile under a trademark license from The Trump Organization. Its $499 T1 phone began shipping in May 2026 after repeated delays.

Frederick Christ Trump founded the business in 1927 in Queens, New York, as Elizabeth Trump & Son, building middle-income housing across Brooklyn and Queens. Fred Trump constructed thousands of apartments, including post-war projects like Shore Haven and Beach Haven, financed partly through FHA programs that later generated discrimination and overbilling controversies.

Donald Trump joined the company in 1968 and took control in 1971, renaming it The Trump Organization and pivoting to Manhattan. His early deals converted the Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt (1980) and built Trump Tower (1983), establishing the gold-plated branding that defined the empire. The 1980s brought Atlantic City casinos (Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal), the Plaza Hotel and the Eastern Shuttle airline, a debt-fueled expansion that collapsed into the early-1990s bankruptcies of his casino and hotel entities.

Recovery came through licensing: rather than own buildings, Trump sold his name to developers, a low-capital model that spread Trump-branded towers globally. The Apprentice (2004 to 2015) transformed him into a media figure and multiplied licensing value.

The 2015 presidential campaign upended the business. During his first term, assets moved into the revocable trust with Don Jr. and Eric Trump running operations under an ethics agreement barring new foreign deals. Post-presidency (2021 to 2024) the company faced legal pressure, including a 2024 New York civil fraud judgment initially imposing hundreds of millions in penalties, portions later overturned on appeal in 2025.

The second presidency accelerated the licensing model. June 2025 brought Trump Mobile, a phone and wireless service venture operated by licensee T1 Mobile under a Trump Organization trademark license. The same period saw expanded merchandise, crypto ventures and international golf development. An updated ethics plan announced January 2025 again delegated management to his children with outside monitoring, while the Trump family pursued foreign business in markets including the Middle East.

The Trump Organization is among the most litigated private companies in America. Key matters: a 2022 New York tax-fraud conviction of the organization itself; the 2024 civil fraud judgment in New York imposing a penalty initially near $500 million, the monetary component of which was thrown out on appeal in August 2025 while liability findings stood; and documented racial discrimination allegations in 1970s rental practices settled with the Justice Department in 1975.

Conflict-of-interest scrutiny is constant because a sitting president retains beneficial ownership: foreign government patronage at properties, licensing deals in policy-sensitive markets, and the Trump Mobile venture during his term all drew congressional and ethics-group attention. The company maintains it operates under a legally sound trust arrangement.