Economy: Donald Trump Has a Billion Dollar Fortune, But He Can Still Vibrate Under the Bar



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Donald Trump is the 1139th richest man in the world with a wealth of $ 2.5 billion

Read the Forbeson November 26. By the way, this means almost 759 billion guilders at the current exchange rate, so at first we might think that the first billionaire president of the United States still does not have to worry about his future.

Even if we know that the beginning of his presidency in 2016 – also a Forbes According to him, he still had $ 3.7 billion in assets. “I can lose $ 2 or even $ 5 billion, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. I do it for the country and for the people, ”he said last October, suggesting that if he had pursued his business career, he would have made a lot more money than he does now when he focuses on politics.

The news already questioned the truth of this statement at the time, saying that the president’s income did not even come close to these amounts, but we are probably not saying too strongly when we describe that Trump was never far from tough, he said in his election campaign. of 2016, for example. , its assets exceed $ 10 billion, which it has been unable to justify since.

The president, who considers himself “very rich,” has debated the size of his wealth countless times with the business magazine. One chapter of this was reported by Jonathan Greenberg, a former Forbes editor. Washington Post“In May 1984, when I was doing the Forbes 400, the list of the richest Americans, for the third year in a row, an official called from the Trump Organization (the organization that groups most of Trump’s companies – to ed.) to find out how rich Donald Trump is. In the previous issue, we estimated his fortune at $ 200 million, while he claimed to have five times that. So the officer got into a fight with me to understand how covered Trump is. The official introduced himself as John Barron, who we now know is Trump’s pseudonym. “

Trump did not lose a fortune during his presidency because he couldn’t handle his own finances, but mainly because much of his fortune came from his real estate portfolio in the Manhattan area, and he also has golf courses and wineries. However, during the coronavirus crisis, office buildings, hotels, and resorts lost significant value.

At the same time, it is not the actual size of wealth that is the real source of the problem, but debt that weighs on you.

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A Reuters wrote in early November that Deutsche Bank, for example, owed $ 340 million in loans to the Trump Organization, now run by Trump’s two sons. Referring to the news agency’s own resources, he writes that all this means a total of three loans, the repayment of which must begin in the next two years.

And while Trump’s theoretical fortune broadly covers paying for this, keep in mind that the (former) president’s fortune is largely in real estate, with little to move, the so-called liquid portion. The question is, now that your companies are forced to post serious losses, how will you pay for this?

Furthermore, these 340 million euros are only part of the amount that Trump will have to pay sooner or later. THE Financial times At the end of October, he collected the amount of the debt owed by the president, who has since lost the elections. They estimate that this amount will amount to at least $ 1.1 billion, of which $ 900 million will have to be repaid over the next 4 years.

And what does this huge amount make up for? In addition to the aforementioned Deutsche Bank loans, Trump’s companies have also issued bonds, of which $ 257 million remain to be paid, he also owes $ 447 million through the Vordano real estate fund, several banks and a trustee also owe the minus $ 25 million.

He also saves another $ 50 million on his own.

The latter may need some explanation: In a real estate transaction, Trump went into debt with the Chicago Unit Acquisition Trust, which is owned by DJT Holdings LLC. DJT, that is, Donald J. Trump. When asked about this in the New York Times in 2016, he replied: “It’s a very simple story, the mortgage is mine. I am the bank. “But since he is also the debtor, there is still a little twist in this very simple story. Due to the” debt “, you don’t have to bother for any other reason: you just have to pay it off under certain conditions, as if your company’s credit rating deteriorates. Although it is not confirmed, the Financial times writes that this could even be a way to avoid paying taxes.

Vornado’s debt is offset in such a way that Trump also has a stake in the two properties of the real estate fund, and since the fund has a $ 1.5 billion loan on these buildings, Trump also has a commensurate stake.

Going back to Deutsche Bank: The German financial institution’s partner for a decade with Donald Trump, deals totaling $ 2 billion have been made during that time, but now there are signs that they prefer to ditch the customer in trouble. And why is it problematic? On the one hand, the bank has had to cooperate in several official investigations – the Democratic side of the United States Senate, for example, is very curious about the agreements that the two parties have worked with – and on the other, cooperation has extremely negative press coverage.

Of the 340 million in debt, Trump has so far only paid the interest, and the principal remains intact. Although representatives of the bank a Reuters For the moment they trust in Trump’s solvency, it has already occurred to us to simply sell the debt in the secondary market. And if that doesn’t work (buyers aren’t crowded for now) and the real estate mogul couldn’t really afford it, Deutsche Bank could simply seize some of the former president’s assets.

However, if the German lender backs down, it is questionable who will finance Trump, as there may be not only financial but political risks to the business. Especially if, as he plans, he runs for the presidential election again in 2024.

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Money, but of what?

As we wrote earlier, Donald Trump has received $ 200,000 from the family business empire every year since he was three years old. Presumably, this was not because his father was so generous, but rather because he wanted to reduce his earnings on paper that way.

Starting in the mid-1960s, the grown-up Donald became a paid employee of his father’s company, while his father also paid him as a consultant. According to the New York Times, Trump also helped his parents value their properties at hundreds of millions of dollars less. So when Fred Trump died in 1999 and his wife, Mary Trump, in 2000, their children inherited more than $ 1 billion by having to pay $ 52 million in taxes instead of $ 550 million. This tax morale also persisted during his presidency, in the first year of which Trump paid just $ 750 in taxes.

Meanwhile, his business empire closed the period from 2000 to 2018 with a loss of $ 174.5 million, but built new golf courses and hotels in a row. Some experts say they essentially moved money from other stores into these investments and then pulled loss papers. So I needed a lot of credit.

It brought him a lot of money, exactly $ 197 million on the NBC reality show “The Trainee,” plus the fact that seeing the success of the show and Trump’s personal reputation, several companies, mainly in the real estate market, paid a total $ 230 million to get Trump. brand. This, in turn, brought temporary benefits to his companies, for which in 2005-2007 he paid a total of more than $ 70 million in taxes. This was followed by another loss, after which he claimed $ 72.9 million in taxes, which is why the tax authority has already launched an investigation, which continues to this day.

In general, the Trump brand was worn out in the mid-2010s, from which his presidency retired. True, the entrepreneur’s self didn’t completely disappear during the presidential years either: it was memorable when he wanted to celebrate the G7 summit at his own golf club, but eventually gave up due to much criticism.

And now it’s a question of what your money will be again. As mentioned, your real estate portfolio is not performing well, just as it is unlikely that after the last four years and the event that went smoothly, a lot of companies would like to be classified under the Trump brand. Probably not going back to television to show off on a reality show, but a Washington Post wrote that the president intends to remain a major player in politics and in the media. Also, he would give lectures and rallies, but he could even write a book about his presidency – his predecessor, Barack Obama, was published right after the election and will be in charge of HVG Books at home on December 10, as he is said to establish his own media company, especially after claiming that Fox News had betrayed him when reporting on the elections (that is, they did not share the president’s view that he won the presidential election). And of course you could even sell some of your real estate, but on the one hand you could only do so at a low price now and on the other hand you would probably be reluctant to ditch your iconic investments, which you could hope to get more of. income.

Of course, none of these are certain yet, his associates have told the Post that after Joe Biden’s inauguration, Trump is likely to winter out in Florida, where he can rest his fatigue. And you may also decide what to do with the huge debt you have in front of you.

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