Donald Trump’s transition team has yet to confirm a report that restaurant and sports mogul Tilman Fertitta is about to be appointed the United States’ ambassador to Italy.
Nor has Fertitta himself commented publicly on the story, which has gone viral since CBS News aired the report Wednesday night, citing unnamed Trump associates as sources.
But that hasn’t discouraged widespread speculation online about who’ll oversee Fertitta’s 600-restaurant hospitality empire, Landry’s Inc., if the billionaire should take the job.
The private company operates more than 70 restaurant brands, including Claim Jumper, Morton’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., The Palm, Saltgrass Steakhouse and the Landry’s seafood chain.
Fertitta also owns Golden Nugget casinos and the Houston Rockets NBA team.
He recently aired interest in acquiring the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and bringing a WNBA team to his home city of Houston.
Fertitta’s net worth was estimated by Fortune magazine at $8.4 billion and by Forbes at $10.9 billion.
In the aftermath of the CBS story, speculation arose online about who might oversee those disparate business interests if Fertitta is dispatched to Rome. Former executives of Landry’s say the company’s owner has been extremely hands-on, especially in tracking the various brands' financial performance and what could be done to improve it. Who would Fertitta trust to run the shop?
The speculation has centered largely on Fertitta’s four adult children. The offspring have been involved in their father’s holdings since graduating from college, according to their dad. Two of them, sons Michael and Patrick, have been deeply involved in recent years in managing the Rockets.
Fertitta is not the first restaurateur to be nominated for an ambassadorship. Bill McCormick, the McCormick in McCormick & Schmick’s, served as the United States’ ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the administration of President George W. Bush. It is not clear if McCormick retained his stake in the seafood restaurant chain during his tenure.
McCormick & Schmick’s is now part of Fertitta’s empire.
Businesspeople appointed to high-level government positions typically sell or put their holdings into a blind trust to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. After his election in 2016 as the nation’s 45th president, Trump broke with tradition by forming what’s known as a revocable trust. Oversight of his real estate empire was transferred to son Don Jr. and then-CFO of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, but Trump himself still had access to corporate information and profits.
Weisselberg was later found guilty of trying to shield the Organization from its full tax burden while he was serving as CFO.
Fertitta has been a major financial supporter of Trump. Campaign records indicate he donated about $420,000 to political action committees that pushed for Trump’s election in 2024.
The Houston native has had a personal relationship with Trump since at least 2011, when Fertitta purchased the hotelier-turned-politician’s Atlantic City casino and converted it into a Golden Nugget.
He recently joined Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk to watch the test launch of a rocket by Musk’s SpaceX aerospace concern.
A spokesperson for Fertitta did not respond to a request for comment.
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