00:00Today on Forbes, Eric Trump has gotten 10 times richer since dad's election.
00:07Eric Trump, who's been managing his father's business for nine years now,
00:11does not own a stake in any of the real estate for which the Trump Organization is known.
00:16He did, however, inherit something even more valuable.
00:21Over the last year, Donald Trump has offered a masterclass
00:24in turning political fame into personal fortune.
00:27Eric has proven to be the best student and is now worth an estimated $400 million,
00:33more than any of his siblings.
00:35The biggest single chunk of his fortune is a stake in American Bitcoin,
00:39a company that mines and holds cryptocurrency.
00:43At the end of September, it had 3,418 Bitcoin on hand,
00:48worth about $320 million at today's prices.
00:51The market cap of American Bitcoin now sits at over $2 billion,
00:55valuing Eric's 7.3% stake at about $160 million.
01:01In early September, Eric boasted on television, quote,
01:05We have massive aspirations to be the absolute best crypto company on Earth.
01:09I think you know how hard we all charge.
01:12We're pretty known for that, and we're having a lot of fun doing this.
01:16It's difficult not to have fun when you're making millions of dollars,
01:20and American Bitcoin is hardly the only valuable venture on Eric's mind.
01:25His share of World Liberty Financial,
01:27which his father launched alongside his sons Eric, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron,
01:32shortly before the election last year,
01:34has netted Eric an estimated $135 million.
01:38Combined with a few other new assets,
01:40the two crypto ventures have boosted Eric's net worth
01:42to 10 times where it sat on the eve of his father's return to the White House.
01:48Reached for comment, Eric disputed the valuation, but declined to explain why.
01:54Eric's American Bitcoin windfall began as American Data Centers, or ADC,
01:59an opaque venture that he launched with his older brother in February.
02:03Just over a month later, ADC effectively merged with Hut8,
02:07a Bitcoin mining operation,
02:09to create American Bitcoin.
02:12In May, American Bitcoin announced a merger,
02:14completed in early September,
02:16with Griffon,
02:17a publicly traded crypto mining company.
02:20The overarching goal is to set up enough computers
02:22to solve the puzzles that unlock Bitcoins
02:24for as cheaply as possible,
02:26then watch the company's stockpile grow even larger.
02:30The combined operation arrived on the public markets
02:33on September 3rd with a new ticker symbol,
02:35ABTC.
02:36It hit a high of $14.52 per share,
02:40which made Eric's estimated 68 million shares
02:43worth just about $1 billion on paper.
02:46But the hype quickly died down.
02:48ABTC closed at $8.04 that day.
02:52Then it kept sliding,
02:53including a drop of 42% this past week
02:55to $2.39 per share as of Thursday morning.
03:00Eric chalked up the most recent drop
03:01to the unlocking of private placement shares
03:03for some early investors.
03:05On X, he posted,
03:07I'm holding all my at-ABTC shares.
03:10I'm 100% committed to leading the industry.
03:14When Forbes valued the Trump family in mid-September
03:16as part of the annual Forbes 400 rankings,
03:19Eric was worth an estimated $750 million,
03:23about $500 million of which
03:25was his American Bitcoin stake.
03:27That's downed dramatically now,
03:29but still leaves him vastly richer than last year.
03:31And the success of World Liberty Financial
03:34has padded Eric's pockets with even more crypto cash.
03:37His father controls 70% of the family stake in the company,
03:41according to his most recent financial disclosures.
03:44Assuming the remaining 30% is split
03:46between Eric, Don Jr., and Barron,
03:48all of whom are listed as co-founders,
03:50Forbes estimates that Eric would have received
03:52about $80 million in cash after taxes
03:55from sales of the coins,
03:56plus $36 million of his own tokens
03:59and $19 million of USD1,
04:02World Liberty's stablecoin business.
04:05It all combines to dwarf Eric's original source of income,
04:09his work for the Trump Organization,
04:10which he first joined in 2006.
04:13Before crypto swelled his coffers,
04:15Forbes estimated that he drew a nearly $3 million salary
04:18and accumulated over $30 million in liquid assets.
04:21With his father back on top of American politics,
04:25Eric has benefited from renewed foreign interest
04:28in deals with the Trump Organization.
04:30Last year, he hauled in an estimated $3.2 million
04:33from new licensing deals in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
04:38And his father's financial disclosures for this year
04:40will no doubt show plenty more flooded in,
04:43thanks to recently announced deals in Qatar,
04:45India, Romania, and the Maldives.
04:47For full coverage, check out Kyle Kahn Mullins' piece
04:52on Forbes.com.
04:55This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:57Thanks for tuning in.
Comments