- By Supratik Das
- Sun, 24 Aug 2025 10:53 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Donald Trump net worth 2025: From having been buried under a staggering personal debt of almost USD 900 million in the early 1990s, Donald Trump now finds himself one of the richest Americans this period at the White House, serving his second term as US President in 2025. Trump's financial history is a combination of risky gambles, failures, and unbelievable comebacks. The US President, whose professional life has been closely linked with debt-financed real estate transactions, bankruptcies, and forceful brand creation, is now valued at USD 6.7 billion by Forbes.
From Humiliation To Resurgence
Even Trump himself tends to remember a low point in 1990, when he was suffocating under debt. During an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he described standing outside Trump Tower and pointing toward a random homeless person on the street, "Right now, he's 900 million richer than me." At this point, Trump was indebted to creditors in excess of USD 3.4 billion, more than USD 800 million of which he personally guaranteed. The crisis compelled him to sell his Trump Shuttle airline, his Trump Princess yacht, and abandon significant holdings in casinos and hotels. "He was wrong. His judgment was wrong," Alan Pomerantz, a lawyer who represented dozens of banks during Trump's restructuring negotiations in the 1990s, said this to NPR. Barbara Res, the Trump Organization's former executive vice president who managed the construction of Trump Tower, explained to NPR that Trump's issues arose from overpaying in the late 1980s. "Those were not good decisions. Those were errors on his part," she said, referencing his USD 365 million acquisition of Eastern Air Lines Shuttle and USD 400 million for New York's Plaza Hotel.
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Notably, the biggest failure was the opening of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 1990. Promised as the "eighth wonder of the world," the USD 600 million casino went into bankruptcy within one year. By the mid-1990s, Trump-owned businesses had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy four times, a rare record in US business history.
The New Billionaire: Media, Crypto, And Cash
The biggest boost for Trump's new campaign came not in real estate, but in media and digital assets. His controlling interest in Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company for Truth Social, is worth about USD 5.6 billion, Bloomberg estimated. Trump joined the cryptocurrency market in 2024 with World Liberty Financial and a memecoin. The projects, initially ignored by analysts, skyrocketed in price after Trump's presidential bid picked up pace. A New York Times report estimated Trump's crypto holdings at USD 7.1 billion, although most of it is illiquid. In addition to crypto, Trump has leveraged his own brand value through NFTs, sneakers, Bibles, and coffee-table books, a move that directly benefits from his political and cultural base.
Trump remains indebted despite his riches. A New York court previously this year directed him to pay USD 454 million in penalties after he was convicted of overstating his net worth to obtain good loans. He also owes USD 88 million to author E. Jean Carroll for defamation verdicts. Trump was able to stall payments by obtaining lower appellate bonds, including a USD 175 million bond in the New York civil fraud case. His total liabilities are pegged at over USD 640 million, based on financial filings seen by The New York Times.
Trump's path is one of reckless risk-taking and the destruction left for investors, builders, and Atlantic City workers. Trump himself has justified his tactics, "I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my skills as a businessperson to dig out of the real estate depression when few others were able to do that." From technically being "poorer than a beggar" in 1990 to featuring in the Forbes Billionaires List 2025, Trump's financial odyssey highlights both the danger and the thrill of bold deal-making.