Forbes calculates Trump''s fortune at $3.7 billion

New York, September 29

The fortune of Republican presidential nominee and real estate magnate Donald Trump currently is estimated at some $3.7 billion, while his debts exceed $1.13 billion, said Forbes magazine.

According to the magazine, Trump, who to date has refused to make public his tax returns claiming that he cannot do so because he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service, has seen his fortune decline by some $800 million over the past year, EFE news reported.

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"Forbes has been scouring Trump's fortune for 34 years. Sometimes he's up, sometimes he down -- and for much of the 1990s he was out of the three-comma club," with a net worth of less than $1 billion, the magazine said.

Forbes said that of the 28 assets or asset classes the mogul owns, most of them in real estate, 18 lost value over the past 12 months due, among other things, to the "softening" of the New York real estate market.

The jewel in the crown of his empire, Trump Tower on Manhattan's 5th Avenue, is valued at some $471 million, some $159 million less than a year ago, while the debt on the iconic property rose to $100 million.

Forbes also provided estimated valuations of other properties owned by Trump such as the 40 Wall Street building, valued at $501 million with a debt of $156 million, and his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, valued at $150 million, some $50 million less than a year ago, EEF news added.

The magazine also said that seven of Trump's investments have increased in value over the past year, including San Francisco's second-tallest building -- 555 California Street -- in which he owns a 30 per cent share, valued at $317 million, up $32 million from last year.

In addition, the magazine said that the only real estate deal that the billionaire closed this past year was to buy an industrial park in Charleston, South Carolina, valued at some $3.5 million.

Forbes also said that Trump has given some $7 million of his money to his election campaign and loaned it another $48 million, although the magazine expressed certainty that he would not recover those expenditures.

And Trump's 10 golf courses in six US states plus the District of Columbia were valued at $225 million, including estimated debt of $18.5 million.

Meanwhile, the mogul has some $230 million in cash, $97 million less than a year ago, and also owns three helicopters and two private jets valued at some $35 million in total, the magazine said.

—IANS