00:00Today on Forbes, here's how much Donald Trump is worth.
00:05What's Donald Trump really worth?
00:08Everyone has an opinion, but Forbes has the answer.
00:12$5.1 billion, according to our most recent tally, updated in March.
00:18It's been quite a year for Donald Trump.
00:20Twelve months ago, his political prospects were shaky, his financial future nightmarish.
00:25He had an estimated $413 million of cash on his balance sheet
00:29and a $454 million fraud judgment against him in New York State.
00:34Trump did what he does best.
00:36He fought, he sold, he won.
00:39The result?
00:41America's 47th president has more than doubled his estimated fortune,
00:45from $2.3 billion to $5.1 billion.
00:50It's quite a comeback for the former, and now current, president.
00:53How did he do it?
00:55By taking advantage of his diehard following.
00:58First, Trump sold shares of his money-losing social media platform,
01:02leaving him with a stake worth about as much as all his real estate combined.
01:06Then, he pushed his crypto offerings, which added hundreds of millions in liquidity.
01:12Trump learned long ago that delays can be as valuable as victories.
01:16Admitting he could not afford to pay off the $454 million in cash,
01:20Trump's legal team suggested an appeals court waive or reduce the bond amount.
01:25Courts don't always grant such grace, but they did in this case,
01:28dropping the requirement to $175 million and staving off an asset seizure.
01:35Then Trump showed why he is the greatest salesman in American history.
01:39The day after the courts extended a lifeline,
01:41he took his social media venture, Truth Social's parent company, public.
01:46It's not much of a business — a few million in revenue, tens of millions in losses.
01:50But that didn't matter to Trump-loving investors,
01:53who bid up shares to unconscionable heights,
01:55gambling on the absurdity of it all and adding billions to Trump's fortune in the process.
02:01The mania faded, with the stock 72% off its high, but it never disappeared,
02:06leaving Trump with a $2.6 billion stake as of March 7th,
02:11the day Forbes locked in prices for its annual billionaire's ranking,
02:15which comes out today, Tuesday, April 1st.
02:18That boosted his net worth, but with Trump hanging onto his shares,
02:22it offered no liquidity.
02:24So he got to work hawking a bazaar of other items —
02:27Bibles, sneakers, guitars — chipping away at the problem,
02:31until he solved it by selling the most absurd product imaginable —
02:35Trumpified crypto.
02:38He started in October with a project named World Liberty Financial
02:41that targeted crypto newbies with tokens that cannot be resold
02:45and vague promises of a, quote, financial revolution.
02:49He's listed as chief crypto advocate,
02:51while sons Eric, Don Jr. and NYU freshman Barron are marked down as Web3 ambassadors.
02:57Barely anyone took notice until Trump won the presidential election a few weeks later.
03:02Then, spurred by a whiff of deregulation and $75 million of purchases
03:06from crypto hypester Justin Sun, others piled in,
03:10ultimately sending an estimated $390 million, or roughly $245 million after tax, to Trump.
03:18Days before his inauguration, the president-elect unveiled Dollar Sign Trump,
03:23a digital token that did not even pretend to be an investment,
03:26but offered gamblers another game to play.
03:29Plenty did, generating an estimated $350 million in trading fees
03:33and dollar-tied crypto for entities connected to him.
03:37Trump's exact take is murky.
03:39He has a partner in the project, an entity reportedly connected to Bill Zanker,
03:43an old friend who co-authored the 2007 book Trump, Think Big and Kick Ass.
03:48But it's safe to assume the president walked away with at least $110 million after tax.
03:55Trump still owes that fraud judgment, and while he appeals, interest accrues,
03:59pushing the total to about $500 million.
04:03New York State Attorney General Letitia James probably doesn't want 40 Wall Street anymore.
04:08It's deeply underwater, thanks to cratering values for office towers
04:12and a big loan against the property.
04:14But it's hard to imagine that Trump,
04:16suddenly flushed with nearly $800 million of estimated liquidity
04:20thanks to the sale of his tokens,
04:22is too worried about the building or the attorney general.
04:25He's a crypto king now.
04:27However, even without that, he's still a billionaire.
04:30His real estate investments portfolio alone,
04:32and his golf clubs and resorts portfolio, are each worth $1.1 billion.
04:38For full coverage and to see a full breakdown of what Donald Trump owns
04:42and what it's all worth, as well as the entire
04:442025 Forbes World's Billionaires list,
04:47check out Dan Alexander's piece on Forbes.com.
04:52This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:54Thanks for tuning in.
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