Forbes.com, on Wednesday said contrary to expectations and the norm, billionaire President-elect of the United State, ahead of his swearing in on January 20, 2017, have turned down the option of divesting from his business empire.
Instead, Trump, with an estimated worth of $3.7 billion, plans to relinquish control of his vast business empire to his two sons- Eric and Donald Jr., who would hold sway along with the President-elect’s longtime Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Nearly $2 billion of his worth is tied up in New York City real estate, including signature properties Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street tied up in New York City real estate, including signature properties Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street. He also co-owns an office building, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, with 30% stake in publicly-traded Vornado Realty Trust and 4% interest in Spring Creek Towers, a 46-tower government-subsidized housing complex in Brooklyn.
Trump has an additional $1.2 billion worth of real estate and golf courses spread across the rest of the country.
His Florida holdings include the private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach and the Trump National Doral resort in Miami. In California he owns the former Bank of America tower at 555 California Street (again alongside Vornado) and in Nevada he and fellow billionaire Phil Ruffin each own half of the gold-windowed Trump Las Vegas hotel.
Trump’s personal property includes homes in Manhattan, Beverly Hills and Palm Beach, plus $35 million worth of planes and helicopters. Trump also has $230 million in cash and liquid assets, including a stock portfolio that he claims to have sold off last June (though he has yet to provide proof).
On the international investment scene, Trump dealings stretch from Toronto to Istanbul and the Philippines, have attracted similar scrutiny. But few of the projects bearing the Trump name outside of the U.S. are actually owned by the president-elect: Three golf courses — Aberdeen and Turnberry in Scotland, and Doonbeg in Ireland — are his only international properties.
The rest of Trump’s non-U.S. interests are part of either his hotel management and licensing business (which oversees the operation of hotels that are not owned by Trump and licenses the Trump brand to other companies) or his product licensing operation (which strikes deals to put Trump’s name on things like ties, coffee and bottled water). In all, his two licensing businesses are worth $137 million — less than 4% of his net worth.
Both Donald Jr. and Eric Trump the new managers of these holdings are currently executive vice president of development and acquisitions respectively at the company. The two, along with their sister, Ivanka, have been credited with spearheading the Trump Hotel Collection that spans from Trump-owned properties in New York and Miami to licensing and management deals in Panama City and Indonesia. Donald Jr. was involved in the development of high-rise condo hotels Trump Las Vegas and Trump Chicago, and has been overseeing commercial leasing for the family company; Eric has been working on his father’s extensive golf portfolio.
Meanwhile, the President-elect’s commercial real estate assets and licensing businesses will be placed into the trust, along with his cash holdings, while all pending business deals have been cancelled.
Accompanied by Sheri Dillon, his lawyer, Trump at a press conference at his Trump Tower on Wednesday morning, expressed confidence that both sons along with his ally- Weisselberg would run the company in a very professional manner and not have to discuss the day-to-day operations with him.
According to Forbes, Dillon, a lawyer with the firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, while providing details of the agreement, said Trump will step down from his role as an executive at the company and his assets transferred to a trust under the control of the trio before his January 20 inauguration.
The President-elect’s daughter Ivanka who will have no role managing the business, plans moving to Washington with her husband Jared Kushner who was been named senior advisor on Monday.
While Trump promised that his children and Weisselberg will wall off business decisions from political actions, the move still falls short of many ethics experts’ recommendation that Trump sell all of his assets and put the proceeds into a blind trust, Forbes.com noted.
