How Much Is Donald Trump Really Worth?
Thanks to the incredible value behind his name, Donald Trump, who famously flirted with running for president in 2012, is said to be worth just over $7 billion.
In his new book, Time to Get Tough, Trump did what many political observers believed he didn’t want to do: release the intimate details of his finances.
According to a financial disclosure report included in his soon-to-be-released book, a copy of which FOX News has obtained, Trump’s net worth is estimated at $7,004,900,000. That compares with estimates from Forbes in September that Trump was worth "just" $2.9 billion.
The report shows he had $270.3 million in cash and marketable securities on hand and $3.2 billion of real estate that he alone owns. Trump is also listed as having $900 million in real estate that he partially owns.
However, almost half of Trump’s net worth -- $3 billion -- is comprised of his “brand value,” a less objective measure of wealth and one that Forbes likely didn't include in its assessment.
Trump said the brand-value estimate was conducted by an independent firm, brand valuation company Predictive. Trump said Predictive is a “highly respected brand valuation company…measuring the financial impact of intangibles such as brand, strategy execution, innovation and post-merger integration.”
He said its clients include Visa (NYSE:V), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), General Motors (NYSE:GM), UPS (NYSE:UPS) and Major League Baseball.
While it is certainly a lofty figure, there is no doubt that Trump has an extremely powerful brand that is recognized throughout the world. His sprawling business empire includes everything from a resort in Panama and golf courses in Scotland to a range of Trump-branded products such as tea and ice water.
Trump’s flirtation earlier this year with a run for the GOP nomination fueled widespread speculation of a publicity stunt, perhaps one aimed at ginning up ratings for “Celebrity Apprentice,” which airs on Comcast’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBC and reportedly pays him $3 million an episode.
At the time, few people thought Trump would want to go forward with the run due to the downsides of running for office, such as reporters digging through his financial disclosures and quitting his lucrative and self-serving TV gig.
"I was so close (to running) that I had already prepared the Public Financial Disclosure Report required of a presidential candidate,” Trump wrote in the book. “That's a big deal because the Trump Organization is a private company, and people don't know what I'm really worth.”
Set for release on December 5, It’s Time to Get Tough is being published by Washington, D.C.-based Regnery Publishing.