By Saeed Azhar
(Reuters) – Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, whose domain extends from brokerage to real estate, has been one of Donald Trump’s top business promoters in recent months.
Lutnick, 63, became co-chairman of Trump’s transition team in August for a second four-year term in the White House. He used his network from a career on Wall Street to build a roster of candidates for the next administration. His reward for long-term friendship and support is the role of Secretary of Commerce in the administration of the Republican President-elect.
“I believe his policies will be critical to ensuring that American businesses remain successful and that our role on the world stage remains strong,” Lutnick tweeted on August 9, after hosting Trump at a fundraising dinner at his home in the affluent seaside community of New York’s Hamptons. 130 sympathizers.
The relationship between Trump and Lutnick spans decades. After 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees died at the World Trade Center in New York during the September 11, 2001, attacks, Trump, who headed the Trump Organization’s real estate business, offered support to Lutnick as the CEO needed to recruit and hire thousands of people. the real estate agency.
He and Trump also reunited on other occasions, including in 2008 when Lutnick was a guest on “The Apprentice,” the reality TV show hosted by Trump.
Wall Street is closely watching Lutnick’s positions on several policy areas.
He has advocated for more jobs for Americans and criticized the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal for hurting jobs in the U.S. auto industry.
Lutnick is also a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, with Cantor Fitzgerald launching a financing company that offers leverage to investors who own bitcoin.
“Every time bitcoin goes down, I become the buyer,” Lutnick said in a podcast on October 28.
Lutnick is also a staunch supporter of Israel, in line with Trump’s position.
Although he has recently been wholeheartedly pro-Trump, Lutnick has donated to Democrats and Republicans in the past. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Lutnick made contributions to the U.S. Senate campaigns of Democrats Kamala Harris and Charles Schumer, Federal Election Commission records show. He also donated to the 2015 presidential campaigns of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush, according to records.
Lutnick’s team did not respond to an interview request prior to the announcement.
AFTER SEPT. 11 ATTACKS
Lutnick heads a financial conglomerate that also includes the brokerage BGC Group. He is also executive chairman of Newmark Group (NASDAQ:), a commercial real estate services company, and chairman of FMX, a platform owned by some of Wall Street’s largest banks and traders. He remains the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Lutnick and his employees had to rebuild Cantor Fitzgerald almost from scratch, creating one of Wall Street’s largest brokerages.
“We rebuilt that company to take care of the families of those I lost,” he said at a Trump rally in late October.
Cantor had stopped paying missing workers after September 15, causing financial worries for some families in 2001, according to Reuters and other media.
Lutnick said it was a short-term move to keep the company going, ABC News reported at the time. Cantor pledged to donate a quarter of his profits over the next five years to the families of employees killed in the 2001 attack.
The company’s relief fund ultimately paid $180 million to the victims’ families over five years and provided health care for 10 years, according to the company’s website.
A company spokesperson declined to comment.
Lutnick, who escaped tragedy because he took his son to the first day of school, has become known for his charitable efforts through the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, which helps families affected by the 2001 attacks and natural disasters. He often becomes emotional when he talks about the tragic events of 2001.
Lutnick was born on Long Island, east of New York City, and is the son of a history professor at Queens College in New York. He lost his mother to lymphoma when he was in high school and later lost his father while attending Haverford College.
He graduated from Haverford in 1983 with a degree in economics and joined Cantor Fitzgerald the same year.
Lutnick quickly rose through the ranks to become president and CEO in 1991.
