From the April edition of Memphis magazine:

When Donald Trump Took Down Holiday Inns

by Tom Jones

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Almost 30 years before Donald Trump became a force in the 2016 Presidential campaign, 2,500 Memphians lost their jobs because of him.

For them, this was no reality television program. There was only reality itself, as Donald Trump’s stock machinations forced the sale of Holiday Inns in 1988, and Memphis’ once-shining example of American ingenuity became a British company whose U.S. regional office was in Atlanta.

While Holiday Inns is regularly cited as proof of how Memphis innovators like Kemmons Wilson changed American culture, Trump’s role in its demise is largely forgotten. The stock frenzy that he triggered when he bought about 5 percent of Holiday Inn’s stock in 1986 paid off big-time for the Donald. He made $32 million, almost the amount of the annual payroll — $40 million — that evaporated from the Memphis economy as a result.

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