President Donald Trump pledged to donate his $400,000 presidential salary every year, as he had other sources of significant income — a report published on Forbes shows he racked up about $1.9 billion of revenue from 2017 to 2019 alone.
The report, adapted from Dan Alexander’s White House, Inc: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business, based the numbers on documents from private lenders, local governments, federal officials and overseas regulators.
According to the report, within three years Trump’s golf courses and clubs produced $753 million, $228 of which came from the Trump Doral golf resort in Miami. The Trump Turnberry, which the president had previously been accused of using the Air Force to profit from, generated $70 million. Other holdings in Europe added $53 million, and the Mar-a-Lago resort brought in $69 million.
Alexander found, based on financial statements from the Trump Organization, that most of the clubs operated have margins of approximately 20%, with his golf resorts operating on even slimmer margins. In 2017, Trump National Doral profited only $4.3 million from $75.4 million in revenue, and just one of Trump’s four golf resorts turned a profit in 2017 and 2018.
Trump’s hotels likewise showed marginal profits.
His property in Washington generated $122 million from 2017 to 2019, turning approximately 11% into profits within the first four months of 2017. The Washington Post reported the Trump hotel in Chicago generated $102 million in revenue from 2017 to 2018. Alexander wrote that it produced only 9% margins in 2017 and 4% in 2018. Trump gained additional revenue from his Las Vegas hotel ($69 million from 2017 to 2019), as well as from properties abroad that he manages or has licensed his name to, totaling an estimated $410 million in the first three years of his presidency.
What creates the most profit from revenue for Trump remains commercial real estate ventures at a rate of approximately 50%.
Trump’s holdings in New York, including the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, a lease to 40 Wall Street and a 30% stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, generated an estimated $461 million in revenue from 2017 to 2019. An additional $114 million reportedly came from Trump’s 30% interest in a skyscraper in San Francisco.
According to Alexander, the holdings threw off approximately $313 million of income from operations during the first three years Trump was in office, as well as his commercial real estate profile creating about $100 million in profits.
The president also generated income by selling properties, including his 4% stake in a Brooklyn housing project for about $33 million in 2018, several oceanside lots near Los Angeles for $23 million, approximately 100 units inside his Las Vegas hotel for $17 million, a condo in Manhattan for $15.9 million and a mansion in southern California for $13.5 million. While in office, Trump’s company also sold an additional $3.2 million worth of land in the Dominican Republic.
The president has also produced revenue from miscellaneous business endeavors, including operating a skating rink and carousel in New York City’s Central Park, which produced $29 million over the three years. He also generates revenue from restaurants, such as the Trump Grill, and from selling books, leasing aircrafts and renting mansions. In total, the random revenue adds up to about $90 million from 2017 to 2019.
