W. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee.
This is a version of a story that appears in the June 4, 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine.
Mitt Romney isn’t the richest person to ever run for President – Ross Perot had him beat by a factor of ten. And if he’s elected, inflation adjustments might favor sprawling plantation owners like Washington and Jefferson, or Kennedy if family assets counted. But there’s no denying that in terms of total dollars a President Romney would be the wealthiest White House occupant ever, and would be even wealthier had he not set aside a trust, now worth $100 million, for his 5 boys. So just how rich is he?
Forbes spent the past month trying to answer that question definitively. The core basis for our valuation comes from Romney himself – specifically, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics disclosure forms, which he filed in August 2007 and August 2011, plus discussions with high-level Romney officials familiar with specific changes to his holdings since that last report. Of course, those disclosures, taken at face value, are about as concrete as a campaign promise, with vague asset ranges (“$1 million to $5 million”) and definitions.
Seeking to remove as much guesswork as possible, we assigned a value to every single asset Mitt and Ann Romney own – 184 in all across the couple’s two blind trusts, IRAs and outright holdings. Our core method: noting the shift in ranges between the 2007 filing, the 2011 filing and now (much of his wealth has been consistently held over the whole period). Comparing which assets changed brackets – or didn’t – with their underlying price fluctuation (or in some cases, a good comparable) over that period, we were able to get better estimates of where each fell in the range. Supplemented by a dozen interviews – from local real estate experts to private equity partners – we get a detailed look at the current state of Mitt’s money, pinpointing his net worth at $230 million, split between 9 different asset classes. Highlights include the sale of nearly all of his individual equities – he sold 71 stocks since his last disclosure – and a big move into cash. He now holds $16 million, up from $1 million in August. More details on his net worth and where he invests are outlined below:
Debt Securities: +$91 million
Romney has the biggest chunk of his money invested in debt securities including $36 million worth of Federal Home Loan Banks consolidated obligations and an estimated $10 million worth of structured notes from Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. In recent months he dumped foreign equities held through Thornburg Investment Management and bought notes from the governments of Canada, Australia and Sweden, giving the former governor some international exposure without the potential political liability of holding foreign companies. Also in this category is a personal loan of approximately $400,000 made to the family’s horse trainer, and a loan secured by a suburban home in Missouri, Tex.
Bain Alternative Investments: +$52 million
At the behest of Bain & Company founder Bill Bain, Romney launched private equity offshoot Bain Capital in 1984. When he departed the buyout firm 15 years later, Romney left with a retirement package that gave him a share of profits flowing from all Bain funds until February 2009 plus the right to invest in Bain funds alongside his former partners. Romney currently holds stakes in dozens of Bain funds.
Elliott Management's Paul Singer, a major Romney donor.
Other Alternative Investments: +$29 million
Nearly all of Romney’s non-Bain alternative assets are managed by the former Governor’s connections. Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer oversees more than $1 million invested in his flagship Elliot Associates fund. In addition to delivering Romney a net return north of 4% in 2011, a year in which the average hedge fund returned -5%, Singer donated $1 million to the Romney super PAC Restore Our Future in October 2011. Romney also has money in Golden Gate Capital, a private equity fund management company whose investment team is largely comprised of Bain alums, and son Taggart’s Solamere Capital.
Comments
(ME) Yay, a president that has a clue about finance :)
Here’s how it will play out though:
(MAJORITY OF US POPULATION) “We hate rich people because it isn’t fair that someone else earned more money than me.”
You think the country is in the condition its in because we have’nt had a president that understood finances. Boy are you setting yourself up for disappointment. Don’t forget the last president had an MBA.
We have a country that is in the condition it’s in because the majority of it’s citizens don’t understand finances or have basic common sense. They are more concerned with who’s on ‘The Bachelor’ or ‘Dancing With The Stars’ than the qualifications and true ideology of those who would lead them.
gvg70 — disagree I think the americans dont hate the rich. Maybe they are skeptical whether a rich person will really know how to alleviate the common man’s problems…
The American voters don’t mind if you earned your wealth yourself. But they don’t have much respect for those who only inherit it or marry it (like John Kerry).
Good for Mitt Romney!!! He started out on the ground floor, he worked hard, he worked smart, he obeyed the law, and he made himself a ton of money.
It’s still supposed to be OK to do that in this country, isn’t it?
If the goal is to rev up the US economy and create new jobs, for my money I want someone in the White House who’s proven that he knows what it takes to be successful in the private sector. He knows what business needs and what kinds of policies will prompt them to make the investments that lead to job creation.
On the other hand, giving a law professor and “community organizer” who’s never worked a day in the private sector in his entire life another four years to try and figure it out certainly doesn’t sound very smart to me.
Judging by the recent trends in the polls, it looks like more and more people across the country are starting to come to the same conclusion.
He didn’t do that…where do you get your information, nice fairy tale you got going there
He didn’t do what exactly? create jobs?
He didn’t start out on the ground floor, he inherited his money. He wasn’t broke growing up. That’s what Anon is talking about. Again, get your facts straight before you open you mouth and think you’re spewing the truth.
Right Dan. Ground floor. I guess you’ll say that about his 5 sons a generation from now with their 20 mil each trust fund. He’s a governor’s son(a rich governor). Nothing to be ashamed of, but it is a pretty good starting point, unlike the children of workers from factories that Bain closed down.
“If the goal is to rev up the US economy and create new jobs, for my money I want someone in the White House who’s proven that he knows what it takes to be successful in the private sector.”
Whats the correlation or precedent?
Mitt recently said that the US should be creating 500,000 jobs a month, that’s only happened 10 times since 1950.
Hey maybe Mittens can work his private sector magic and get the ball rolling.
Obeyed the Law?
Like in making profit from Bain after their secret law firm (MNAT) admitted to lying under oath to a Chief Federal justice more than 15 times – when MNAT put forth an erroneous Rule 2014 Affidavit and then sold its “Court” approved client assets (MNAT was eToys Debtor’s counsel) to its UNdisclosed client (conflict of interest extraordinary) of Bain/ Kay Bee.
Then REDUCED the price of eToys.com from $10 million to only $3 million.
You mean That Law abiding profit when Mitt was STILL CEO of Bain Capital?
Mitt Romney donated his share of his father’s estate to Brigham Young University, specifically to the Marriott School of Management’s Romney Institute of Public Management, named for Mitt’s father, George W. Romney. As such, virtually all of Romney’s wealth flows from his own career in consulting and private equity.
Proven how to be successful in the Private sector.
You mean how Bain’s Kay Bee CEO – Michael Glazer, paid himself and Bain to the tune of around $100 million and then filed Bankruptcy (more than once).
Where Bain’s law firm (MNAT) is representing Bain in that preferential transfer of “insider” payouts – while Bain’s other secret beneficial attorney Paul Traub (who worked for Stage Stores where Romney owned 800,000 shares and Michael Glazer was a director/ stockholder) –
as Traub asked to be the one to prosecute Bain & Glazer.
Sort of like JP’s Dimon asking for Sach’s Blankfein to be their prosecutor of JP Morgan Chase…
those time of legitimate Wealth creations?
Sheessshhh
Dear Luisa Kroll;
Can you explain why Forbes fails to report on how Goldman Sachs in essence sued Goldman Sachs in the NY Supreme Court case eToys v Goldman Sachs (case # 601805/2002)?
When we pointed out that MNAT – Goldman Sachs’s attorney in DE – hand picked Paul Traub’s firm to sue Goldman Sachs – when Paul Traub’s (secret) partner (Barry Gold) was illicity placed inside eToys as a post bankruptcy petition filing President & CEO of eToys and voted with MNAT to nominate Traub to sue Goldman SAchs.
Where the case was closed for Failure to prosecute
(as if Goldman SAchs REALLY wanted to prosecute itself and win)
and now is Entirely Under SEAL to hide all this stuff too?
Will your entity (Forbes) break this story?
Or just sit silent and Hope Mitt Romney gets in and owns the DOJ to continue the Cover Up?
And how much do you think he got in tax write offs for his ‘donations’? Look that up and give us some facts on that Mr. Forbes staffer…since you’re obviously working, do some more homework and get back to us.
I didn’t mean to imply that Romney’s wealth is only a reflection of inheritance, only that his life circumstances hardly equate to starting on the ground floor. I should also have replied to Dan that the richest guy running is not necessarily the best person to preside over a macroeconomy. Maybe we should have elected Vanderbilt and Ford(Henry) rather than Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.
Tom,
Cornelius Vanderbilt and Henry Ford never ran for the office, though Ford did run for a Michigan Senate seat in 1918 (he was defeated in a controversial campaign by Truman Newberry). As for Teddy Roosevelt, he was fabulously wealthy. In fact, Forbes ranked Roosevelt the 6th richest president of all time back in 2010. Unlike Mr. Romney, however, Roosevelt’s wealth came primarily from inheritance and trust funds.
Don’t be a dodger Edwin, give us some facts on how much Mitt got back in tax write offs for his ‘donations’ of all his father’s wealth to his Mormon college.
Yes Romneys wealth flows from his own career in consulting and private equity that was most likely built upon his fathers Rolodex and political/corporate connections. I’m not begrudging Romney this, but when your father was a CEO of a car company and governor of a state your just going to have access to situations that the average person does not have.
Never worked a in the private sector a day in his life?
“In the late summer of 1983, future United States President Barack Obama interviewed for a job at Business International Corporation. He worked there for “little more than year.”[3] As a research associate in its financial services division, he edited Financing Foreign Operations, a global reference service, and wrote for Business International Money Report, a weekly financial newsletter.[4] His responsibilities included “interviewing business experts, researching trends in foreign exchange, following market developments. . . . He wrote about currency swaps and leverage leases. . . . Obama also helped write financial reports on Mexico and Brazil.[5]“
Edwin
I think you got me there. I can only resort to “TR was a friend of mine, and Mitt, you are no TR”.
Didn’t Berlusconi ran the Italian economy into the groud? Whatever he did, he did NOT make it better.
Edwin,
You work for Forbes and all, with all that focus on wealth. but THAT is not the most important difference between Roosevelt and mitt.
That would be the recognition by Roosevelt that the wealthy have a special obligation to the country: If you carry a big stick, walk softly. With big power come special obligation. Noblesse Oblige.
Romneys goals havent’ evolved beyond GREED is GOOD, or it must be GREED is GOOD just for the rich, not for the poor.
The,
The Roosevelt dictum to which you are referring is actually “speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” It came to characterize our 26th president’s foreign policy philosophy: negotiate calmly and purposefully with the unspoken threat of overwhelming force.
As for noblesse oblige, click here to see our breakdown of Mitt Romney’s philanthropy.
Is that before he took it, invested, set himself up, made three times as much from it. Give me a break.
You give me 20 million, I take it and make 100 million. Then I donate it to charity. Can I claim that I gave the portion you gave me away.
You takes access and money to make money, plain and simple.
Yep, agreed Fernando, even the education base was probably assisted with money.
However, he was obviously taught the value of money and how to work with it from an early age, so thats where his wealth is. Money is just a bunch of figures and I think he’s commendable on still driving a 2002 pick up. Although, with no picks, maybe it’s not the old banger I’m thinking of.