Trump Family Inc: how her father's name first helped and then ruined Ivanka Trump's business

"First big public event" and"Exclusive: Ivanka Trump's new business" - it's hard to find news about the eldest daughter of the US president lately. Even behind these seemingly high-profile headlines that appeared in the US media in May, there was a rather ordinary event: Ivanka was a speaker at the Heartland Summit, "one of the many conferences that seem to exist just so extremely rich people can sit around and pat each other on the back," as Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdavi characterized the meeting. At the summit, Ivanka spoke for the first time about her new business, which she launched with a friend in 2023. Oninvest continues its series on how and what members of the American president's family make money from. The new article is about why the "First Daughter of the United States" distanced herself from her father.

Ivanka Trump, 43, is the daughter of President Donald Trump by marriage to Ivanka Trump. Born and raised in Manhattan. Graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in economics. Started her career as a photo model - starred in ads for Tommy Hilfiger and Sasson Jeans. In 2007, she took 83rd place in the Maxim magazine rating "Maxim Hot 100" (her stepmother Melania also got into this rating). That same year, at the age of 26, she founded her first business. Gradually gave up her modeling career in favor of working in the Trump Organization and developing her own projects. Married, three children.

Ivanka Trump joined her father's business in 2005 - at the age of 24 she was appointed Vice President of Trump Organization. The position was not nominal: Ivanka's responsibilities included the development of many of the company's top projects, including business expansion in Washington and Miami. The salary and bonuses were to match - $2 million a year. The average income on Wall Street at the time was $289,700.

Two years after starting her career in real estate, Ivanka launched her own business - jewelry production under the Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry brand. She granted a license to use her name to Madison Avenue Diamonds, which worked under the Trump Mark for a percentage of profits. In doing so, Trump owned a stake in that company for some time. Jewelry from Ivanka was worn by Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. In 2010, the brand won the Launch of the year award.

Gradually, over the next six years, Ivanka expanded her fashion empire, adding shoes, bags, eyewear, perfume and clothing to her jewelry. Ivanka Trump-branded items and accessories were sold in the largest retail chains in the United States - Bloomingdales, TJ Maxx and Nordstrom, as well as online, on Amazon and other sites, including the brand's own website.

Because the company was not public, it's difficult to judge Ivanka's income during this period - the main benchmarks are the income disclosure documents she provided to the court during the 2023 fraud trial against her father, as well as the income reports she filed as a government employee during Donald Trump's first term.

Forbes estimates that between 2009 and 2018, Ivanka Trump's cumulative income from her many business ventures could have totaled about $27 million, plus at least $2 million she received in advance for a book she wrote in 2009."The Trump Card" tells of the challenges Ivanka faced as a child (her dad forbade her from getting piercings) and how her famous last name sometimes prevented her from feeling independent. But the main goal of the book was to inspire working women to achieve their goals and not be afraid of challenges. Forbes writes that a total of 26,000 copies of "Trump's Map" were sold. Ivanka Trump's business was non-public, but had an impact on the performance of public companies - in late 2012, G-III Apparel Group Ltd. signed a license agreement for the Ivanka Trump brand. Four years later, revenue generated from Ivanka Trump would grow 61% over fiscal year 2015-2016. The label became one of the three major brands that boosted the operating income of G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. Ivanka had by then become the daughter of the President of the United States.

Ivanka's income dropped sharply after she entered the White House. During Donald Trump's first term, his daughter served as a senior adviser, but she refused a salary - officially, all her work in the civil service for four years was free.

Revenues from the fashion business have also been sharply curtailed. Initially, when Ivanka took office, she intended to keep the brand, following her father's path - to transfer the management of processes to trusted persons, but remain the owner of the company. However, in her case, the scheme did not work: many business partners and buyers were not satisfied with the new official position of the "First Daughter of the United States". In 2016, when videos of Trump making scandalous statements about women ("Grab them between your legs. You can do whatever you want") were made public, not only Donald Trump himself, but also Ivanka and her personal business were under attack - activists called for a complete boycott of the brand.

"I don't condemn her for supporting her family. But it's one thing to build an image of a fighter for female fulfillment by promoting a brand 'for women who work' and another to present one of the most hateful, racist and sexist campaigns. You can't do that - you can't be selective about these things," one of the activists supporting the Ivanka Trump boycott told the Guardian newspaper.

As President Trump's policies have increasingly divided American society, the rate of sales of Ivanka's clothing and accessories has plummeted. The WSJ estimates that in less than a year, the numbers have plunged 45%, with declines at both offline stores like Macy's and Bloomingdales and online at Amazon. But Nordstrom, another major chain, was the first to announce the discontinuation. They were followed by a Canadian retailer - Hudson's Bay. In both cases, purely economic rather than political motives were cited as the reasons.

"We have always maintained that we make purchasing decisions based on brand performance," Nordstrom said in response to an AP inquiry. - We have thousands of Marks represented, over two thousand on our website alone. Evaluating them and adjusting the assortment is part of our daily work."

Trump's dad was not satisfied with this explanation - he criticized the network, saying that it had acted unfairly to his daughter.

"My daughter Ivanka was treated extremely unfairly at Nordstrom. She is a wonderful person, always encouraging me to do the right thing. This is horrible!" - wrote the president on his Twitter page.

Immediately after this publication, Nordstrom shares began to lose in price, but only slightly - only by 0.65%. However, at that time it was a normal effect after the publication of the president's threatening tweets. But it is interesting what happened to the securities later in the day: the shares not only returned to the initial position, but even grew by 4% by the end of the day, although the rest of the market that day was generally calm and no one had noticeable growth - wrote the Los Angeles Times.

Other White House officials also spoke in Ivanka's defense: Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, on Fox News, urged Americans to go and buy things from the president's daughter. This finally angered human rights organizations that monitor compliance with ethical standards.

The ethical conflict arose not only because Ivanka owned the brand, but also because she actively wore her brand's clothes and accessories during public appearances and TV interviews. Afterwards, mentions of the products were included in press releases to journalists.

Another ethical dilemma came to light after the Washington Post investigated the business practices of the president's daughter.

"While President Trump has repeatedly condemned companies for moving jobs overseas, an investigation by The Washington Post found that Ivanka Trump's company is entirely dependent on overseas factories - in countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and China. And while Ivanka Trump released a book this spring declaring that improving the lives of working women is 'my life's mission,' The Post found that her company lags behind many other apparel brands in monitoring working conditions in factories that primarily employ women," the piece, published in mid-2017, said.

As a result, under pressure from human rights organizations and against the backdrop of declining sales, Ivanka Trump in 2018 announced the complete liquidation of her fashion brand. However, she identified political rather than economic reasons as her motives - the president's daughter was determined to focus on her career in the White House:

"After 17 months in Washington, D.C., I can't say whether I will ever return to business. But I am confident that my priority in the near future is the work I do here in Washington," Trump said in an official statement.

However, critics of the presidential daughter did not believe in high political motives and argued that the brand died a natural death, simply because it was initially very bad.

"The Trump brand can be compared to Banana Republic or J.Crew - with one exception: at least their clothes are quality. When two-thirds of American women wear a size 14 or larger, and almost 40% can't afford even a thousand dollars for unexpected expenses, the market for hundred-dollar dresses that fit only slender, tall women like Ivanka herself was minuscule - even before people started voting with money," NBC News wrote on the occasion of the brand's closure.

Yet despite the free government work and the collapse of her personal business, Ivanka's bank accounts continued to fill up. First, the brand continued to generate revenue for her throughout 2019 even after the liquidation - totaling $1 million.

She earned at least another $1 million in advance for her second book,Women Who Work. It was published in 2017 and sold 35,000 copies.

The biggest wealth boost - $4 million - came after the end of his father's first term, in 2022, when the family sold the scandal-plagued Washington hotel for $375 million - Trump owned it throughout his presidency and rooms were rented out at impressive prices. It raised questions of conflict of interest among opponents. After the sale, each of Trump's children received an equal share from their dad.

Today, Ivanka Trump remains in the shadow of her billionaire brothers. Her social networks are filled with family photos, and in her rare interviews, she assures that she is done with politics.

But not with business. True, it's a far cry from what the president's daughter has made famous around the country. For two years now, she's been involved in a very private and niche project called Planet Harvest: it helps bring farmers together more efficiently with the buyers of their produce, and has the noble goal of reducing food waste. Doesn't sound at all like the Trump family, does it? And at least for that, journalists are praising Ivanka: "I give Ivanka's project credit - it looks very noble. There are plenty of scams she could be involved in - just look at the other members of the Trump family who are now making huge sums of money from a number of highly questionable cryptocurrency projects."

Indeed, it seems that Donald Trump's favorite daughter, his senior advisor and right-hand man during his first presidential term, has chosen a field as far away as possible not only from her former entrepreneurial interests, but also from her own family. While Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, Ivanka's two siblings, are trying to capitalize on everything associated with their famous family name, as well as squeezing the most out of White House policy initiatives, their sister has distanced herself as much as possible. Which is not surprising, given that Ivanka has already lost her own business once because of her cooperation with her own father.

To be continued.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor