There’s a legend that a drowning man can save himself if he can get his head back up out of the water twice but if he goes under for the third time, it’s curtains. We’re going to find out if that’s true in Donald Trump’s case. Trump just dropped off the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America for the second time in three years. This is the list that David Dennison and John Barron moved heaven and earth to get him on in the first place.
Trump covets being on that list. Another aspect of this which is comical is that it’s traditional that politicians leaving office, not just presidents but vice presidents and senators, tend to increase their wealth afterwards. They write books and do speeches for hefty fees, or get Netflix contracts, like the Obamas. Trump’s the only former president going broke. It’s bad enough he’s in a Manhattan courthouse today defending himself in a bank fraud case, now he’s been kicked out of the rich guy’s club.
Donald Trump is no longer rich enough for the country’s most exclusive club. With an estimated $2.6 billion fortune, he is $300 million shy of the cutoff for The Forbes 400 ranking of America’s richest people, the annual measurement that Trump has obsessed over for decades, relentlessly lying to reporters to try to vault himself higher on the list.
His net worth is down more than $600 million from a year ago. The biggest reason: Truth Social, his social-media business. Trump once envisioned a significant percentage of the country logging onto the platform. But that never happened. Roughly 6.5 million have signed up so far, about 1% of the total on X (né Twitter). Trump’s 90% stake in Truth Social’s parent company has plummeted in value from an estimated $730 million to less than $100 million.
Now this next part of the story you’re going to love. This explains why Trump is so vicious to Nancy and Paul Pelosi. His efforts to become a San Francisco slumlord are falling by the wayside.
Also in trouble: his office buildings, which are down by an estimated $170 million. The majority of that decline comes from 555 California Street, a 1.8 million square-foot complex in the heart of San Francisco, where Trump holds a 30% stake alongside publicly traded Vornado Realty Trust. The problem is not the property’s performance to date—occupancy inched up from 94.2% in 2022 to 94.5% this year, and rents rose 3% to $93 per square foot—but rather its outlook for the future. Leases generating more than half of the building’s total rent expire by the end of 2026, according to documents released two months ago. The neighborhood around the building is also struggling—the property directly across the street recently sold for less than half of what it cost in 2005. Trump’s interest at 555 California is down by an estimated $100 million or so.
In New York, Trump holds another 30% stake in a Vornado-controlled building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, which is down by roughly $60 million. It’s a similar story there, with near-100% occupancy at the moment. But Equitable Holdings, long the building’s biggest tenant, is moving its headquarters up the street next year, a serious blow, given that the firm rented 450,000 square feet, according to a 2019 document obtained by Forbes.
There is a bright spot in Trump’s portfolio. As fewer people spend time in the office, more are goofing off on the golf course. That’s especially good news for Trump National Doral, the former president’s most valuable golf property, purchased for $150 million in 2012. Trump commenced an extensive renovation of the Miami resort, reportedly injecting more than $200 million of additional cash, before politics spoiled his investment. Divisiveness drove away the largely northeastern clientele, and revenues fell from $92 million in 2015 (the year Trump announced his presidential run) to just $75 million in 2017 (when he took office). Sales stayed flat at roughly $75 million a year until Covid-19 knocked them down to less than $45 million. Now business is back, with revenues up to an estimated $106 million. Operating profits appear to be approaching $20 million a year, up from just $4 million at the start of Trump’s presidency. Doral is now worth an estimated $291 million, before subtracting its $125 million of debt.
Umm….’scuse me, did I read that right? The “bright spot” in Trump’s portfolio is Doral, which would be valuated at $291 million, except $125 million of that (almost 50%) is debt? And that’s the bright spot? Well, I guess “bright” is a relative term, amirite?
But it gets more interesting still. The article goes on to state that the golf courses are doing well, post pandemic, and it says this: “Trump’s liquid holdings [are] an estimated $426 million, making his cash pile the most valuable asset in his portfolio today.” Now, you need to really excuse the hell out of me, because if Forbes is right, no wonder Trump is sulking with a sour puss in court. He’s got $426 million in cash, that’s his biggest asset, and Letitia James wants $250 million of that? Plus, the Judge that he’s been insulting and threatening has discretion to add a zero or two to that figure? And don’t forget E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million and that figure may go up as well. And all of the Trump suits are bleeding legal fees, bear that in mind, and all of them may subject him to sanctions and fines.
Holy, moly, a whole hell of a lot of things are starting to make sense. Thank you, Forbes. Follow the money is the First Commandment of business life and we see why.
Trump has weathered storms in the past, and this is not the first time he has gotten kicked out of The Forbes 400. He conned his way into sharing a spot on the inaugural list in 1982 with his father, Fred Trump, by convincing a reporter that he held a larger percentage of Fred’s fortune than he actually did. Trump secured massive loans that led to massive bankruptcies, and he fell off the list in 1990, when Forbes exposed deep problems with his debt-fueled empire, ultimately putting his net worth “within hailing distance of zero.” But Trump emerged from those troubles and regained a legitimate spot on the 400. He remained on the list from 1996 until 2021, when six years of polarization and one year of Covid finally caught up to him, dropping him from the ranks once again.
Now here’s another thing you’re going to love. Trump got kicked out of the Forbes 400 before, right? And what did he do to get some big money rolling immediately, so he could get back on it again?
A master of reinvention, Trump announced plans for a new social-media platform, Truth Social, within weeks of falling off the list.
And you know full well where that got him. Right now Truth Social is on life support until September 24, 2024 and that’s contingent upon nothing else going south for the next year and everything going right. They need to file paperwork with the SEC, not have another auditor quit, all kinds of things.
He pitched Truth Social as a cancel-free antidote to Twitter. Investors, especially mom-and-pop traders, loved the idea. They poured money into a special-purpose-acquisition company that planned to merge with Trump’s business, at one pushing the implied valuation of the venture above $15 billion. Forbes valued things more conservatively, adding $730 million to Trump’s fortune. That was still enough to put him back on the list of America’s richest people. Two years later, the SPAC deal remains in limbo. If Trump’s platform were thriving, he would probably have no trouble finding alternate financing. But it’s not, and there is little reason to be optimistic about Truth Social’s future.
After all, if people are not logging on to Trump’s platform to hear what he has to say now—while he is simultaneously facing a series of indictments and steamrolling the Republican presidential primary—they probably never will.
And make no mistake, Trump has his Twitter account where Truth Social posts are copied as both a backstop in case Truth Social goes prematurely in the next year and in order to make a smooth transition back to Twit-X when the inevitable happens and Truth Social is dead in cyberspace.
And what will Trump do now to get back on the Forbes 400 list? Start another social media company? I don’t think so. Build another couple of golf courses? Well, he does have a track record there. Unfortunately, applying for a business loan when you’re in court defending yourself against allegations of bank fraud and insurance fraud is not, how shall we put it, the most propitious timing? Let’s just say that much.
Probably the only time former guy ever got on this forbes list close to honestly was after his father died and he inherited, what, $1B? Back then $1B would get you on the list. Not sure what gets you on it now.
Of course Doral is the bright spot in Trumpworld, it’s where they keep the family’s only pets.
The bedbugs.
It figures that Traitor Tot would like bedbugs.
Politics n. Poli means many, tics are a blood sucking disease carrying insect.
The above definition describes republicans to a tee!
I really hate that “joke” because it’s so utterly stupid.
The word actually derives–ultimately–from the same Greek source, “polis” meaning “citizen.”
“Poly” in the sense of meaning “many” does NOT change its spelling (e.g., polygon, polygamy, polytheism). “Tics” in this case is NOT the little arachnid but, rather, refers to a “sudden and repetitive motor movement or vocalization.
Remember when Eric was being interviewed and he said that they get all of the money they want from Russia? Also, a Russian oligarch bought one of his Florida homes for millions more than Trump’s inflated asking price. He launders their money and does their bidding, and they give him money and put him in the White House. And the Saudis are always good for a few billions. Those facts alone would keep any normal person from being re-elected. Can anyone say “conflicts-of-interest”?!