Erin Carlyle
JUN 16, 2015
Campaign exaggerations are as much a part of politics as kissing babies. In announcing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination this morning, Donald Trump started with what Forbes believes is a whopper. He claimed his net worth was nearly $9 billion. We figure it’s closer to $4 billion — $4.1 billion to be exact.
This discrepancy is noteworthy, since Trump’s financial success – he put his fortune at exactly $8,737,540,000 — is core to his candidacy. “I’m proud of my net worth. I’ve done an amazing job,” said Trump at his circus-like announcement, before referencing his autobiography. “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.”
Since 1982, Forbes has been tracking Trump’s net worth in great detail. That’s more than thirty years. Over those decades, we have worked both with him and outside experts who can help us come up with a fair market valuation of his assets. Every year, Trump shares a lot of information with us that helps us get to the figures we publish. But he also consistently pushes for a higher net worth—especially when it comes to the value of his personal brand.
There is no doubt that Trump is a billionaire and a savvy deal-maker. He turned his father’s construction company into the massive empire it is today. He is also a survivor: having gone through a corporate bankruptcy that, according to our research left his personal net worth in the red in the 1990s, Trump clawed himself back to enormous wealth. (Though let’s be clear: Trump entities have filed four times for corporate bankruptcy, all related to Atlantic City casino property that he today has a 10% stake in. He has never filed for personal bankruptcy. As Forbes‘ Clare O’Connor explains, only during the first corporate bankruptcy was his personal fortune at risk.) He owns trophy New York properties like 40 Wall Street, Trump Tower, as well as his Doral golf resort in Miami. His brand keeps growing, too, with Apprentice appearances, books, speaking engagements, Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants and menswear at Macy's
Below we break down what Trump says he is worth v. what we at Forbes estimate he is truly worth. The major difference: his brand. Trump claims that his brand and brand-related deals are worth some $3.3 billion. We value his brand at just $125 million; we give him another $128 million in management fees for Trump-branded hotels. Another major discrepancy is golf courses: Trump has been advocating for a valuation for his chain of American golf courses as high as $800 million. Independent valuation experts tell us our figure of $200 million is much closer to the mark. The other difference is properties under development. Trump claims nearly $300 million here; we don’t give properties full build-out value until they’re actually fully built and running.
Cash & Marketable Securities: $302.3 million (Trump); $302.3 million (Forbes)
Forbes agrees. We’ve seen the bank statements.
Commercial Properties 100% owned by Trump: $1.38 billion (Trump); $1.3 billion (Forbes)
Trump claims $1.697 billion in assets - $312.63 million in debt = $1.38 billion
Forbes values (net of debt):
Trump Tower, 725 Fifth Avenue, NYC: $470 million
40 Wall Street: $475 million
Niketown Store, 6 E 57th St., NYC: $285 million
Trump International Hotel and Tower, Central Park West and South: $53 million
Residential Properties 100% owned by Trump: $315.2 million (Trump); $410 million (Forbes)
Trump claims $334.6 million – $19.42 million in debt = $315.2 million
Forbes values (net of debt):
Trump Park Avenue, 502 Park Ave., NYC: $240 million
Trump World Tower/ UN Building, 845 United Nations Plaza: $10 million
Trump Parc East, 100 Central Park Avenue South: $30 million
Trump Plaza, 3rd Ave.: $16 million
Trump’s penthouse: $90 million
Club facilities and related real estate: $1.86 billion (Trump); $866 million (Forbes)
Trump claims $2.009 billion in assets - $146.47 million in debt = $1.86 billion
Forbes values (net of debt):
Doral, Miami: $300 million
Mar-A-Lago, Palm Beach: $290 million
Additional golf courses in the U.S. $200 million
Golf courses in Scotland and Ireland: $75 million
Properties under development: $293 million (Trump); $0 (Forbes)
Trump claims $300 million in assets and $7.14 million in liabilities. This is not a piece of the portfolio that we’ve valued. We’re looking forward to seeing the documentation and doing our own assessment.
Properties owned less than 100% by Trump: $943.1 million (Trump); $940 million (Forbes)
1290 Ave. of Americas (Bank of America ngIf: ticker BAC -0.57% ngIf: show_card end ngIf: ticker Center), NYC: $695 million
555 California Street, San Francisco: $160 million
Trump Las Vegas: $87 million
Starrett City, Bklyn, NY: 0
Real estate licensing deals, brand, and branded developments: $3.3 billion (Trump); $253 million (Forbes)
We value the Trump brand at $125 million. Trump apparently thinks that if he spun-out these kind of deals and his good name into a separate company, he’d net over $3 billion for it. Good luck with that.
We do give Trump another $128 million for management contracts for running his Trump-branded hotels.
Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA Pageants: $14.8 million (Trump); $0 (Forbes)
We find these of negligible value compared with his other assets, and Trump seems to agree.
Other Assets (net of debt): $317.4 million (Trump); $88.5 million (Forbes)
D.C. Post Office hotel project: $14 million
Helicopters, Airplanes: $50 million
Kluge Winery: $17 million (We’ll likely be revising this up)
Personal residence in Beverly Hills: $7 million
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