Notable & Quotable: The next Trump to run the business; a family business and the Olympics…

Who will run the Trump empire if Donald becomes president?

With Donald Trump moving one step closer to the most powerful political position on earth as effectively the Republican candidate for the US presidency, speculation has risen about which of his offspring might lead his business empire. Those in the running are his children from his first marriage to Ivana – Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka and Eric. All three work as executive vice presidents at the Trump Organisation, and are being perfectly groomed to succeed their father if he becomes president. But maybe his daughter could be the one. In a recent interview with CBS, Ivanka talked about her various business interests, including the launching of the Trump International hotel in Washington. She’s clearly ambitious and doesn’t lack confidence. And a female Trump at the top of the family business may help to soften the Trump presidential brand and win more of the all-important female vote.

A family business takes on the might of the British government – the book

Lance Foreman, who owns and runs the London-based salmon curing business H. Forman & Son, has written a book about his fight with the UK government over the building of the London Olympic stadium on land owned by his family business. Entitled Forman’s Games, The Dark Underside of the London Olympics, the book, which hits the bookshops in July, tells the story of one family business, established in 1905, fight against the might of national and local government, the London Olympic Games Organising Committee and the Olympic Movement. For those wanting a flavour of Lance’s battle with some of the most powerful political forces on earth, Family Capital interviewed him a year ago.

The family shareholder model is championed

Alain Bloch, a professor at the business school HEC in Paris, and Valerie Tandeau Marsac, a French lawyer, have written a comment piece for the French financial daily Les Echos, singing the praises of family shareholders. Using the term “family capital” – great, term by-the-way – the authors say that shareholders directly linked to the company have more interest in making the business successful and as such leads to  better outcomes for society. In contrast, many listed business shareholders are only interesting in short-term profit and as such their holding of shares might not benefit society as much, the authors argue.

Rare interview with scion of one of America’s greatest family businesses

US business magazine Fortune has managed to gain an interview with a member of one of America’s most powerful, but little known, business dynasties, the Bechtel family. The family control the huge privately-controlled construction group Bechtel and the interview is with Brendan Bechtel, the great-great-grandson of the founder Warren Bechtel. Brendan is expected to be ordained as the next president of the San Francisco-based business. There are many things extraordinary about Bechtel, but as the Fortune article says, the fact that Bechtel has been owned and managed – a family member has always been president – for coming on to five generations is an exceptional achievement.