Donald Trump lost nearly a quarter of his net worth in the four years of his presidency despite efforts of special interest groups and Republican advocates to line his pockets, a report by Bloomberg claims.
When he entered office in 2017, Trump had a reported net worth of $3 billion; he entered 2021 $700 million poorer, with an estimated net worth of $2.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the value of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Bloomberg notes that Trump’s holdings could face another precipitous drop in value as more than $500 million in loans and outstanding debt he owes comes due in the next four years, and there are few lenders willing to extend him credit.
Trump’s holdings took a nosedive in 2020 thanks to the national coronavirus pandemic, a national emergency Trump did little to control while he was in office. His hotels and resorts, including his golf courses, saw a drop in revenues. Trump office buildings have also seen increased vacancies, a trend that started prior to the pandemic as retail business tried to distance themselves from the toxic Trump brand.
The value of Trump’s commercial properties dropped 26% from 2016 to 2020, even as real estate generally increased. Trump also carried a $256 million debt load on his commercial properties, which are valued at $1.7 billion. The properties, like Trump himself, are showing their age and have not had any significant improvements in the past decade.
Trump’s hotels and resorts, which have more than $330 million in debt on a $559 million valuation, have also been hit with a 42% drop in income even through Republican-leaning groups, lobbyists and even foreign governments tried to curry favor with Trump by holding events at his properties.
One of the key sources of Trump’s income has been licensing agreements, but his marketability took a huge hit due to his unpopular presidency. He made $22.7 million in 2020 off his name, but that was 30% less than 2016, and as agreements expire, it’s unlikely many partners will opt to renew them. Trump also saw an incredible drop in his royalties from entertainment, making him just $350,000 in 2020; he made $49 million in 2015 from royalties from The Apprentice and his movie cameos. Much of the money he made from his entertainment enterprises came from his Screen Actors Guild pension of $80,000.
In a sign of how unpopular he is, Trump saw an 87% drop in income from book sales, to just $119,000 in 2020. While he could see an advance on an autobiography in his post-presidential years, that would rely on a major publisher risking their reputation on Trump, and Trump actually doing the work to write a book (which he would likely have ghostwritten, lowering the value of any manuscript).