Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Great Over-seller

Donald Trump is known the world over as a famous real-estate developer, television personality and multi-billionaire. Only problem with that is that “The Donald” may NOT be worth billions at all.

Mr. Trump is suing a writer for defamation for alleging in a 2005 book that he was only worth between $150 million and $250 million. Mr. Trump said the writer caused damage to his reputation which caused him to lose out on deals from Philadelphia to Kiev. However Mr. Trump then provides under oath that he has a strange way to calculate his own net worth. It seems that Mr. Trump does "mental projections" and he feels that there’s nothing wrong with that. When asked if he had ever exaggerated in statements about the value of his properties, he answered, "Who wouldn't?" When asked if that mean that he inflates the value of his properties in non-financial public statements, he answered, "Not beyond reason."

All this in a suit against a writer who alleged that Mr. Trump is worth a hell lot less than he says he is. So I am now left with 2 questions;
1) How much is Donald Trump really worth?
2) Why he even bother suing anyone giving statements like that?

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