JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES
Donald Trump never really got out of business. Sure, he handed day-to-day management of his companies to his children, like a lot of tycoons who get preoccupied with other interests late in life. But the president held onto ownership of his assets after taking office, ensuring that he would continue to generate money while serving in the White House. From 2017 to 2019, the president’s businesses raked in an estimated $1.9 billion of revenue.
It’s a significant sum, no matter how you look at it. Documents from various sources—including private lenders, local governments, federal officials and overseas regulators—help show where the money comes from and roughly how much of it turns into profit. An analysis that relies on those documents and conversations with industry experts, broken down for the first time in the forthcoming book White House, Inc., provides an unprecedented look at the president’s finances, which he has worked so hard to shield from public scrutiny.
Presidential Profits
Trump’s licensing, management and hotel empire has been fading, but his golf and club business has picked up the slack. The president’s commercial buildings remain his cash cows.
Trump’s golf course and club portfolio produced the biggest chunk of revenue, some $753 million in three years. The Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami, Florida led the way, bringing in $228 million of revenue from 2017 to 2019, about three-quarters of the total from the 10 other golf courses Trump owns in the United States. In Europe, another golf resort named Trump Turnberry generated $70 million. Holdings in Doonbeg, Ireland and Aberdeenshire, Scotland added $53 million, while Mar-a-Lago took in $69 million.
Golf Course and Club Revenues (2017-19)
Despite all the revenue it generates, the president’s golf and club business is not where he earns the biggest profits. Financial statements from the Trump Organization and conversations with golf industry insiders suggest that the president’s traditional golf clubs have operating margins of roughly 20%. His golf resorts produce even slimmer profits. In 2017, Trump National Doral earned just $4.3 million on $75.4 million in revenue. None of his three European properties have ever recorded an annual profit, according to the most recent financial data available.
Stuck In The Rough
Only one of Trump’s four golf resorts turned a profit in 2017 and 2018, according to a set of documents that is not yet available for 2019.
The second-biggest revenue generator is Trump’s collection of commercial real estate assets. New York City remains the hub. The president continues to own the commercial space inside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, a lease to 40 Wall Street in the financial district, and a 30% stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, one of the broad-shouldered office buildings that defines midtown Manhattan. The New York City holdings generated an estimated $461 million in revenue from 2017 to 2019. Another $114 million or so came from Trump’s 30% interest in 555 California Street, a skyscraper in the heart of San Francisco.
The President’s Rent
Trump’s commercial real estate portfolio has drawn in hundreds of millions in revenue while he’s served in office, as these estimates show.
In contrast to the modest-margin golf properties, Trump’s commercial real estate assets convert more like 50% of their revenue into profit. That means that they have been far more lucrative than the golf courses and clubs, throwing off an estimated $313 million of income from operations in the first three years Trump sat in the White House. The commercial properties also come with greater conflicts. Golf assets generate smaller amounts of money from lots of people, whereas commercial real estate holdings tend to collect bigger sums from fewer customers. So although there’s a lot of talk about potential influence from Trump’s club members, the customers who can really impact his bottom line are those renting space in his buildings.
Skyscrapers Of Gold
Trump’s commercial real estate portfolio threw off more than $100 million in estimated profits from operations every year from 2017 to 2019.
Trump’s hotels also tend to get a lot of attention, particularly his Washington, D.C. palace down the street from the White House. Trump’s revenues at the place totaled $122 million from 2017 to 2019. The real estate titan has sold off a chunk of hotel rooms in Chicago and Las Vegas, allowing outside investors to buy into those buildings. The Chicago hotel, where Trump still holds 175 of the 339 units, generated $102 million of revenue from the start of 2017 to the end of 2018, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. In Las Vegas, the president disclosed about $69 million of hotel revenue from 2017 to 2019. At a handful of other properties—in Canada, Uruguay, Panama, Turkey and elsewhere—Trump either licensed his name or managed buildings on behalf of other owners. Altogether, Trump’s licensing, management and hotel businesses reaped an estimated $410 million in revenue during the first three years their owner served as president.
Capital Appreciation
The president has disclosed remarkably consistent revenues at his D.C. hotel every year since taking office.
Running a hotel, like operating a golf course, is a hands-on, high-cost business, cutting into potential earnings. Trump’s property in Washington generated profit margins (calculated using earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of just 11% in the first four months of 2017. The president’s Chicago hotel fared even worse, producing margins of 9% in 2017 and 4% in 2018.
Falling Fortunes
Estimated profits inside Trump’s licensing, management and hotel empire have slipped each year.
Trump gets additional revenue from a variety of sources, including some that other real estate barons would never consider. In New York City’s Central Park, his business operates a skating rink and a carousel that generated $29 million during the first three years he served as president. There are also restaurants, like the Trump Grill inside Trump Tower, home to the famous taco bowl, which then-candidate Trump touted on Cinco de Mayo, 2016. He has gotten money from selling books, renting mansions, leasing aircraft, and so on. All the miscellaneous revenue added up to an estimated $90 million from 2017 to 2019.
Random Revenue
Donald Trump isn’t just a real estate operator. His businesses brought in an estimated $90 million in miscellaneous revenue from 2017 to 2019, including some from a restaurant portfolio, skating rink and even a carousel.
Trump receives more money from properties he sells. The president ditched his 4% stake in a Brooklyn housing project for an estimated $33 million in 2018. He sold 11 oceanside lots outside of Los Angeles for another $23 million. He offloaded about 100 units inside the Las Vegas tower, generating $17 million. A single condo on Park Avenue in Manhattan, dealt to a woman who publicly boasts about her connections to government officials, brought in $15.9 million. A mansion in Beverly Hills, sold to a company connected to an Indonesian tycoon, produced another $13.5 million. Trump’s team promised he would do no new foreign deals while in office, but then he sold $3.2 million worth of land in the Dominican Republic. And on and on. Added up, all those transactions produced an estimated $118 million over three years.
The Donald’s Deals
The president sold an estimated $118 million of property from 2017 to 2019, through more than 100 under-the-radar transactions.
The flow of money has likely slowed down in 2020, thanks to the coronavirus. But the spigot hasn’t shut off completely. Day after day, new visitors arrive at Trump’s hotels, dine at his restaurants, golf on his courses, and rent his buildings. It’s difficult to put precise figures on all of that without seeing more documentation (which won’t be available until next year). But it seems certain that Trump’s businesses will accept more than $100 million in 2020. And that means that, even if his tenure ends in January 2021, Trump should still be the first president to literally rake in billions of dollars while serving in office.
