Icahn Looks to Offload Trump’s Taj Mahal

by Kody Miller
on February 8, 2017

Following a prolonged strike from workers last year, the iconic Taj Mahal casino and resort property closed its doors in October, 2016. Now, owner and business mogul Carl Icahn is looking to put the property up for sale, according to a recent bulletin posted on his official website.

The casino property was opened in 1990 and had been owned by President Donald Trump prior to his swearing in. Initially promoted as the 8^th wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal fell quite far from grace and nearly had to shutter its doors before being saved by Mr. Icahn, who bought the venue in 2015.

Failing to recover even after the purchase, the property continued to deteriorate. Employees belonging to the UNITE HERE Local 54 labor union made matters worse by imposing a strike last year in an attempt to negotiate better health insurance and pension benefits. The strike lasted a month with no reconciliation reached between ownership and workers. Cited by Icahn as the main reason for closure, the strike signaled the death knell for Atlantic City’s once great resort property.

Senate Grudges

The move to sell comes following not only the closure of the property last year, but the confrontational piece of legislation, SB-2575, that was introduced by influential New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney who sought to strip Icahn of his casino license for a period of five years.

The bill passed through both passed through both state legislative houses to reach the governor’s desk. Governor Chis Christie vetoed the bill outright claiming the legislation was aimed toward the businessman as punishment for closing the business after striking workers refused to “negotiate in good faith”.

The wording of the bill didn’t name specific operators, but rather proposed that any operator to close a venue after January 1, 2016 would not be granted a casino license for at least five years. Seeing as how Trump’s Taj Mahal was the only venue to be closed after the stated date, it doesn’t take much to draw a conclusion as to who the legislation may have been targeting.

The governor went on to articulate his disdain for the move from Sweeney, calling it a “transparent attempt” to keep Icahn from future attempts to secure a casino license and claimed the bill characterized the New Jersey Legislature “at its worst.”