Access Hollywood

• Former Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers
• Congressional Sex Scandal Bad Boys Larry Craig and Gary Condit
• Amy Winehouse
• Former Enron chief Jeff Skilling (Let him out of jail early and call it community service!)
• John Rocker (Former pitcher who managed to insult just about every minority in a 2000 Sports Illustrated interview)

Former Mrs. McCartney on Trump's Apprentice a no-go originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It seems like there are almost weekly opportunities to blast Donald Trump here on BloggingStocks, and the latest comes courtesy of Perez Hilton who reports (with a great illustration that is too vulgar for AOL) that "Last Thursday's Celebrity Apprentice came in at third place with a lousy 8.2 million viewers. That's down a sharp 26% from its previous week premiere. At its heyday, the show could get close to 20 million viewers per episode."

What went wrong, other than the fact that Trump has overexposed himself to the point where everyone wishes he and his comb-over would take a hike? Part of the problem is that the whole Celebrity Apprentice thing lacks the appeal of watching hungry up-and-comers duke it out for a shot at wealth. It's a little bit like watching Warren Buffett play Deal or No Deal -- Who cares? There's no drama, and watching Gene Simmons dial up his friends to buy a $5,000 hot dog so his team can beat Omarosa in a contest just isn't very interesting.

But then again, the whole Apprentice show has gotten stale -- and its applications to the real-life business world have always been highly overrated. It's a made-for-TV reality show full of over-produced melodrama.

But the flop of the celebrity edition probably spells the end of the series, and now Donald Trump can go back to focusing on his business ventures rather than his insatiably narcissistic appetite for publicity. And judging from the performance of Trump Entertainment Resorts (NASDAQ: TRMP), his real-life ventures could use some attention.

Donald Trump's 'Celebrity Apprentice' is a flop -- will he please go away now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Donald Trump is self-made? What?! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)'s NBC Universal did not include The Apprentice on its 2007/2008 schedule. But in true World Bank fashion, NBC Universal gave Donald Trump the last word -- letting him quit before NBC Universal publicly fired him.

The Apprentice debuted in 2004, averaging 21 million viewers and topped the new show ranking in its first season. But it steadily lost about two-thirds of its original audience by the time it completed its sixth installment in April 2007. I stopped watching it last year because it was too boring. And I think it jumped the shark when business schools starting using it as part of their curriculum.

During the late 1980s, Donald Trump invented the idea of using books to promote a real-estate business. During the latter part of the decade, he was all over the media -- but not to the same extent as he has been in the past few years. At the end of the 1980s, Trump went bankrupt, along with many other real-estate developers.

I see the demise of The Apprentice as the canary in the coal mine for this similarly debt-fueled decade.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns General Electric stock.

NBC to Trump: "You're Fired!" originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 May 2007 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Trump Entertainment Resorts (NASDAQ: TRMP) shares soared more than 20% on Friday after the company disclosed that "The Strategic Committee has recently received preliminary and conditional indications of interest from parties proposing to acquire the Company. There can be no assurance that any of these indications of interest will result in a sale of the Company or any other transactions."

Given that the company had already announced that it was for sale and already jumped on that news, the shares may have gotten ahead of themselves today. But the storyline that interests me is this: If the casinos are sold, is it possible that the Trump name will be removed?

With the ratings of The Apprentice continuing to show weakness in the latest season (even after a move to L.A. to spice things up), I would argue that the Trump name may be suffering from overexposure. His huge ego may have finally turned off the public, and his book with Robert Kiyosaki is probably the worst thing I've ever read.

I just wonder whether the Trump name has much value anymore. There's no question that everyone knows it, but what is the average person's impression of Trump?

Trump Resorts receives a buyout offer? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. You can vote for Donald Trump's hair as the Worst Signature Style.

Good Mr. Trump, he of the fluffy comb-over, had a heck of a year in 2006. We should all be so lucky (he would ascribe luck to none of it, of course, but that is another matter)!

Just a few of his accomplishments:

• The Iconic Donald saw his net worth rise again above a mere five billion dollars.
• He is erecting buildings all over the world, including a Trump Tower in Dubai. The Hair is literally global.
• He married a stunning model, half his age, and fathered a lovely son whom he subtly named Baron. He has stated for the record that he does not and will not change the baby's diapers.
• His television show, The Apprentice, is literally one of the top-rated shows in television. To demonstrate that his Trumpian blood line lives on, he fired his firm professionals from the show and put both of his genetically perfect children on camera alongside him. And they are articulate and on the ball, like pop.
• To put a capper on his TV dominance he put a smack down on his "friend" and Apprentice ingénue, Martha Stewart, when she attempted her own show and talked down the D-man. Nobody does that! Wonder how he handles his enemies when they cross him?

And now, at year end, he is giving foreign-policy style speeches and musing about running for president. And like our current president, the Donald does not drink alcohol. No wonder he is always so crisp.

Continue reading Best & Worst: The Donald as hair icon

Best & Worst: The Donald as hair icon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you'd pick Donald Trump as the most annoying money personality, be sure to vote for him.

A leading contender for the most annoying money personality crown for decades now, consummate self-promoter and real estate mogul Donald Trump is also the producer and star of the reality television show, The Apprentice, from which comes his widely imitated catchphrase, "You're fired."

Trump, also known as "The Donald," a nickname given to him by his former wife, Ivana Trump, is recognized by his usual squint, pursed lips, and that distinctive comb-over, which has been the subject of humor by many comedians, and it's a nominee in another category of the Best & Worst 2006.

Known throughout the 1990s for his much publicized financial difficulties and a high-profile and messy divorce from wife Ivana, he'd already begun a lifelong habit of naming things after himself. Besides Trump Tower and Trump Plaza, there are also such things as a Trump menswear collection, bottled water, vodka, a magazine, an ice cream parlor, and Trump University, a business school founded in 2005.

Not only does Trump reportedly receive $3 million per episode of The Apprentice, but he also headlines the Learning Annex's Real Estate Wealth Expos, for which he reportedly receives $1 million per one-hour seminar. In addition, he's a professional wrestling fan, often appearing ringside at WWE Wrestlemania events, and for the 2004 Emmy Awards he appeared in coveralls and a straw hat, singing the Green Acres theme along with actress/talk show host Megan Mullally.

Best & Worst: Donald Trump: The man, the hair, the naming rights, the source of irritation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.