US President Donald Trump’s net worth has flatlined at $3.1bn, but he has slid down a Forbes ranking of billionaires as the magazine believes his White House stint is harming the Trump brand.
Trump’s ranking dropped to number 259 on the list of Forbes’s wealthiest 400 billionaires released on Wednesday, down from spot number 248 in 2017.
In 2015, the year that Trump announced his then improbable run for the presidency, Forbes valued his net worth at $4.5bn.
Forbes attributes his declining wealth to deeper reporting about his assets, decline in brick-and-mortar retail, slowdown in real-estate, particularly in the luxury sector, and how being president affects the brand.
While he built much of his fortune on lending his name to projects he does not always own, a Forbes investigation say the strategy is backfiring, with his name no longer synonymous with luxury but divisiveness, driving away business partners and potential apartment buyers.
Nevertheless the value of property that he does own, including his Trump Tower penthouse, his personal private jet and Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, dubbed the Winter White House, has gained in value, Forbes believes.