Edwin Durgy

Edwin Durgy, Forbes Staff

America's billionaires and how they got that way.

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5/16/2012 @ 6:14AM |79,239 views

What Mitt Romney Is Really Worth: An Exclusive Analysis Of His Latest Finances

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 2011a 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.

 

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  • Hi Bye Hi Bye 2 months ago

    at 100 million he to rich for the job, no vote, like giving trump A ceo of Mc Donalds, he wouldnt care if he got fired the pay is chicken feed to him at his billions. The President pay is like $400, 000 a year and Ronney could make that in a day, it chicken feed to him

  • Anon Anon 2 months ago

    This is how Mitt Romney created jobs at Bain Capital

    KB Toys was purchased and taken private in 2000 by the leveraged buyout firm of Bain Capital for $305 million, Bain announced the purchase on Dec. 8, 2000. Only $18 million of the purchase money was cash, the rest was borrowed against the assets of the company. Sixteen months after the buyout, Bain Capital paid itself $85 million in dividends (a 372% return on their investment) in 2002. Two years later, due to increasing competition from national discount chains such as Wal-Mart and Target and its enormous debt, on January 14, 2004, K·B Toys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 365 stores.

    K·B closed 156 stores on November 8, 2007. The Gordon Brothers Group[3] handled the liquidation of these stores. On February 9, 2009, K·B closed the remaining stores following the second bankruptcy filing in four years. In addition, K·B Toys’ website was closed down.

    The K·B Toys brand and related intangible assets were sold by Streambank LLC to Toys R Us on September 4, 2009, for a reported $2.1 million. Because K·B Toys’ 460 stores had been closed and liquidated, the sale applies mainly to the company’s logo, website, and trademarks/intellectual properties. Toys R Us remains unsure of how the K·B name will fit into its future business plan.[2] So far, Toys R Us uses the K·B Toys brand in self-manufactured toys, under the name “KB Classics” with the K·B Toys logo.