Before Trump became president, the “Art of the Deal” was littered with failed business ventures and bankruptcies. According to Forbes, before he became a reality television star, Trump’s net worth in 1988 was estimated to be $1 billion. By the following year, his wealth had significantly dropped to $500 million.
This financial failure is astonishing when we consider the wealth Trump inherited and received from his father. According to a New York Times exposé, Fred Trump gave him the equivalent of $413 million (adjusted to 2018 inflation), about $140 million in unpaid loans, and a salary that started at $200,000 per year when he was just three years old—rising to $1 million after college and eventually reaching $5 million annually in his 40s and 50s.
So, for Trump to have such a low net worth during the 1990s demonstrates his lack of business acumen. It would take playing the role of a successful businessman on The Apprentice in 2004 to bring about a financial rebound to about $1 billion. Yet this pales in comparison to how much money he would make as president.
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