President Biden recently took a humorous jab at Donald Trump, alluding to the former president’s financial predicaments, despite Trump’s net worth experiencing a significant boost. At a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden shared a light-hearted anecdote with the audience, saying, “The other day, a defeated guy came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, I’m being crushed by debt — completely wiped out.
I had to look at him and say, ‘Sorry Donald, I can’t help you’.” This jest comes at a time when Trump’s financial status has been the subject of much public speculation and scrutiny. Biden’s quip is not an isolated instance; it follows a pattern of similar remarks he made previously. For instance, during a campaign reception in Houston, Biden made a jest about Trump’s challenges in securing a $545 billion bond required to contest a civil fraud judgment against him. This remark underscored Trump’s exclusion from the list of the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals.
However, Trump’s financial fortunes appeared to take a dramatic turn with his net worth catapulting to $6.4 billion following a lucrative merger involving his Trump Media and Entertainment Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp. This merger, which involved the parent company of Truth Social, boosted Trump’s net worth by $4 billion, securing him a spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the globe’s 500 richest people.
On its debut day on the Nasdaq, Trump Media’s stock surged, closing at $57.99, a significant leap from its opening value, and traded under the ticker ‘DJT’, reflecting Trump’s initials. In a striking development, a New York appeals court recently granted Trump substantial relief by allowing him to post a considerably reduced bond of $175 million to counter the civil fraud case.
Trump, in a press conference, expressed confidence in resolving the bond issue swiftly, stating his readiness to furnish cash or bond as required to contest the case. Despite these developments, Trump’s legal team had earlier conveyed to the court their struggles in securing the initial bond amount, despite approaching numerous underwriting firms.
The court’s decision to lower the bond offers Trump a temporary reprieve, granting him additional time to arrange for the bond before the state commences asset seizure procedures. Trump’s assets, largely entangled in various properties and business ventures across the nation, remain somewhat enigmatic. In a declaration made in 2015, Trump estimated his net worth to be over $10 billion.
However, recent evaluations by Bloomberg and Forbes present varied figures, with Bloomberg estimating his net worth at $3.1 billion in 2023, a notable increase from previous years, and Forbes placing it at approximately $2.6 billion as of September 2023. Forbes has diligently attempted to piece together the comprehensive picture of Trump’s holdings, offering insights into the valuation of different segments of his business empire.
Golf clubs and resorts: $870m
New York City real estate: $690m
Cash and personal assets: $640 million
Non-NYC real estate: $190 million
Social media and brand business: $160 million
But, an important element of any reporting on Trump’s finances is that they are self-reported. In February 2022, his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, declared that they could no longer stand behind the financial statements it prepared for the Trump Organization from 2011 to 2020. According to Forbes magazine, Trump’s assets also included as of September 2023, $3 million in cryptocurrency.