"You never really know people, so you have to be careful"
Interesting advice from Donald Trump, who, comb-over, trophy wives and vapor billions notwithstanding, knows a few things about disputes. He might have appended it with "especially when it's about television ratings." From one of our legions of tipsters- we have legions, yes, thousands, really- an account of The Donald's Wealth Faire last weekend from the Contra Costa Times.
As the article points out, people waited though two days of real estate investment hucksters to hear The Donald. Who has that kind of time? And just who did they think was paying The Donald's $1.5M speaking fee (they paid $24.39 each.) Could this be because we at Curbed watch ANTM instead of The Apprentice?
Is Condo Flipping the Next Burger Flipping?
If the 61,000 paying attendees claimed by The Learning Annex (never mind about herd mentality just now) forked over a minimum of $50 for this event, that means that The Learning Annex pulled in over $3M. Less of course, Donald's fee, billboards, hair and make-up of $1.5M. Plus fees paid by the various exhibitors and speakers- you don't think they were there for free- less fees for the hall (Moscone Center) and the tech stuff rentals. Hard to know, but certainly in the seven figures.
We also don't know how much The Learning Center- started with 5K in Bar Mitzvah money- got for selling a big chunk of itself earlier this month to a private equity group, but we do know that Peter Sperling of the buttery $65M house makes his money from The University of Phoenix.
Somehow we think most of the attendees are behind the curve here. And not following the money.
· Wealth Expo Speakers Sell Succes Tales [Contra Costa Times]
· ...Learning Annex Bought [Reuters]
· Housing For Billionaires [Curbed]