6 Reasons You Can’t Believe Anything Donald Trump Says About his $9 Billion Net Worth

By Allan Stone

The balance sheet that Donald Trump used as a prop for his announcement this morning has impressive-looking numbers. But for those of us who deal with numbers for a living — and who have dealt with Trump in the past — his claim of a net worth of $8.7 billion as of last June makes no sense.

Based on my reading of the numbers and my previous experiences with Trump, here’s my bottom line: Trump’s balance sheet is  certainly over-inflated and doesn’t seem to be tethered to much of a financial reality.

Here are some of the major reasons I say this:

1. He says that real estate licensing deals, and brand and branded development, are worth a wonderfully precise $3,320,020,000. Where on earth does this valuation come from? It’s not credible without some sort of certification from a serious, impartial third-party.

2. He claims that his New York City commercial and residential properties are worth a total of $2.03 billion. But the liabilities on his balance sheet for those properties total only $332 million. That’s only 16 percent of their claimed value. That’s not how big-time real estate people operate — they typically have a much higher debt level. And what is the $2.03 billion valuation based on?

3. He shows club facilities and related real estate worth valued at more than $2 billion, with only $146.6 million of liabilities. That’s debt of less than 8 percent of their supposed net worth, which seems like way too little debt for their supposed net worth. And what is that net worth based on?

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