Donald Trump drops 298 spots in Forbes’ ranking of world’s billionaires
- Trump dropped from the No. 1,001 spot to No. 1,299 in Forbes’ 2021 Billionaires List
- Pandemic pummelled his commercial real estate business, his biggest revenue driver
Former US president Donald Trump dropped 298 spots in Forbes’ billionaires list, which was released on Tuesday.
Trump sat at the No. 1,001 spot in 2020 and now holds the 1,299th place in the publication’s annual list, which ranks the world’s billionaires. As Forbes notes, Trump has actually grown richer since this time last year, but others on the list saw their fortunes expand even more. He is worth US$2.4 billion by Forbes’ estimates.
The pandemic – as well as the controversy surrounding impeachments against him and other political snafus – have marred his commercial real estate business, a market that has taken a hit during the health crisis-driven shutdowns. About 75 per cent of his income comes from his commercial real estate assets, including revenue from resorts and golf clubs, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
His Manhattan properties, in particular, rake in a large chunk of revenue for him, a stream of income that has been interrupted by an upended New York real estate market.
Over the four years that Trump was president, his net worth plummeted by US$700 million from US$3 billion to US$2.3 billion. He was the first billionaire in history to serve as president of the United States.
Last year, Trump also fell 77 spots in Forbes’ ranking of the 400 richest Americans – his net worth took a US$600 million hit between September 2019 and September 2020. Fellow billionaire investor Warren Buffett also met rough times during the pandemic and saw his net worth plummet US$7.3 billion.
The individuals included in Forbes’ 2021 Billionaire’s List are collectively word US$13.1 trillion, with most residing in the US. Despite the setbacks, Forbes reported that a new billionaire emerged every 14 hours on average over the course of the last year.