Chanos: Trump was my easiest short, like 'ocean liners hitting icebergs'

[CajunBlazer]

Note: For the uninitiated, a "short" is an investment in a stock of a company where the investor is betting that the price of stock will go down, usually by a large percentage of it's value. It seems that at least one prominent investor is betting that Trump's candidacy is hurting his business ventures. (Poor baby.)

Jim Chanos, who once bet against Enron, says shorting Donald Trump 's companies was a no-brainer.

"The easiest short sales I've ever had in my life were the stocks and bonds of Donald J. Trump's companies. ... It was like numerous ocean liners hitting many icebergs repeatedly," the Kynikos Associates founder said Tuesday at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in New York.

The short-seller Chanos, a large donor to Democratic causes and candidates, hosted the event, which President Barack Obama attended. Trump, the billionaire developer and Republican presidential nominee, has boasted of his business success throughout his presidential run. Democrats have repeatedly attacked Trump's record, claiming he has enriched himself without helping those he worked with over the years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chanos-trump-easiest-short-ocean-160927088.html

[napi21]

1. What am I missing? Trump's companies are PRIVATE family owned businnsses.

Whoever this Chanos is, couldn't have invested in Trump's stock because there isn't any.

[VMA131Marine]

2. Even private companies can and usually do have stock

I'm not sure how you could short such stock sine it's not publicly traded.

[CajunBlazer]

3. Not all of them as the article goes on to point out

[brush]

4. Probably referring to all the licensing deals that Trumps sells his name to

Some of those companies are most likely listed on some exchanges. It's not a bad bet that all the negative revelations that have come out about Trump's business failings have affected bookings in "Trump" named hotels and thus the parent companies' stock.