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If you really want to know who holds financial leverage over the president, focus on the big organizations inside Trump’s commercial buildings.
Donald Trump has a lot of customers. There are people who purchase his food in Trump Tower, spending $20 on a burger. There are those who stay in his hotel rooms, paying $475 for a bed. There are others who join Trump-owned clubs, perhaps doling out as much as $200,000. But the president’s most important customers—by far—are the companies renting space in his buildings.
There aren’t all that many of them, but they pay big money. In fact, just 25 tenants pay an estimated $115 million in rent every year. Those payments alone account for roughly 20% of all revenue flowing into the president’s business empire. And since leasing space tends to be a high-margin business, that $115 million might translate into $65 million of operating profit, or roughly 40% of the estimated total Trump Organization earnings in a typical year.
Two of the most lucrative deals, involving Gucci and Nike, are close to Trump’s old home. Gucci leases space inside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, and Nike had a location around the corner on 57th Street. The president also brings in significant sums at 40 Wall Street, a skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, where Walgreens Boots Alliance pays a reported $3.4 million a year in rent.
The true hubs for Trump’s big-money tenants, however, are 1290 Avenue of the Americas in New York City and 555 California Street in San Francisco. Trump holds a 30% interest in each building, so our calculations only attribute 30% of the rent from each tenant to the president. Even still, the money adds up. Bank of America pays an estimated $22 million for space inside the 555 California Street complex in San Francisco; Trump’s share of that equals $6.5 million. Goldman Sachs pays a reported $5.8 million, an estimated $1.7 million of which we credit to Trump.
The president has never had to publicly disclose who pays him rent. Federal disclosure laws, designed before anyone imagined a real estate billionaire in the White House, demand that officials disclose which entities pay them directly, but not who pays those entities. Since Trump holds his commercial real estate portfolio through a series of shell companies, he does not have to divulge his tenants. The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Forbes first investigated the president’s rent roll around the beginning of 2018, tracking down roughly 75% of all money flowing into the president’s commercial properties. My book White House, Inc., released last month, digs deeper, detailing more than 90% of the money flowing into the portfolio. Below, we highlight the 25 tenants who, according to our calculations, are paying the most rent to the president.
The Italian fashion brand, which rents 49,000 square feet for its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, pays the president more than anyone else, according to our math.
The financial firm leases about one-fifth of the 2.1 million-square-foot 1290 Avenue of the Americas, the largest building in the president’s portfolio.
The athletic apparel giant vacated the building after Trump took office, but Tiffany & Co. is subleasing the space until 2021, according to a spokesperson for the jeweler.
The financial firm lobbied on tax reform while renting space in one of the president’s most valuable buildings.
Trump is well aware of the bank’s lease in his San Francisco office building, which the president referred to as “the Bank of America building” in a town hall discussion earlier this month.
Trump has multiple ties to the real estate firm, which once prepared an appraisal for his New York mansion that recently came under scrutiny by state prosecutors.
Trump’s administration cleared the way for Walgreens Boots Alliance to do a $4.4 billion deal with Rite Aid. A former official involved in the process, Maureen Ohlhausen, said the president’s lease did not affect her analysis.
No matter who wins the 2020 election, Venable will have a connection to the administration. The law firm used to employ Doug Emhoff, the husband of vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Morgan Stanley lobbied the president’s inner circle on financial regulations while paying rent in one of Trump’s buildings.
Known for its investment funds, Dodge & Cox maintains its headquarters inside Trump’s San Francisco skyscraper.
The law firm employed William Barr, until Trump brought him on as attorney general.
The Trump administration sued UBS in 2018, for allegedly defrauding investors in the years leading up to the Great Recession. A judge denied the bank’s attempt to dismiss the suit, and the litigation is still ongoing.
In addition to its corporate tenants, Trump’s 63-story skyscraper in New York City’s financial district also hosts a school.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, which has lobbied on issues including blockchain policy and the Affordable Care Act this year, leases an office in 1290 Avenue of the Americas.
The publisher has released titles that both promote and criticize the president. Hachette rents space on the fourth and fifth floors of 1290 Avenue of the Americas.
The British law firm moved into the Sixth Avenue skyscraper earlier this year.
The Department of Justice, the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission all investigated State Street while it leased space in Trump’s building.
In addition to the glitzy shops and luxury towers, Trump’s New York City portfolio includes about 350 parking spaces. The president seems to lease virtually all of them to a garage operator named Enterprise Parking Systems.
The Ivy League institution occupies 120,000 square feet in 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Like many of Trump’s highest-paying tenants, Columbia agreed to rent its space before Trump announced his presidential bid.
Country-Wide leases 82,000 square feet inside the president’s Lower Manhattan skyscraper as part of a deal that was set to expire in August 2021, according to a debt prospectus tied to the property.
It’s not a good time to be leasing space to gyms. The New York Sports Clubs location near Park Avenue and 59th Street is currently closed.
The tower in San Francisco is not full of the tech companies Trump often criticizes. Most of the building is instead taken up by banks and law firms, like Fenwick & West.
Many of Trump’s top appointees have previously worked at Goldman, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and onetime National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.
The design and engineering firm may be leaving Trump’s skyscraper soon. News broke earlier this year that it had signed a 15-year lease in a nearby building.
A Jewish women’s organization, Hadassah advocated for a bill to promote education about the Holocaust. In May, Hadassah’s landlord, President Trump, signed it into law.
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