Since Trump Left The White House, Profits At Mar-a-Lago Have Quadrupled

Forbes

When a member of Donald Trump’s exclusive Mar-a-Lago invited Joni Bryan’s nonprofit to hold its annual gala at the Palm Beach club in 2021, Bryan jumped at the chance. The executive director and founder of the 917 Society, which aims to educate students about the U.S. Constitution, thought it would be a great way to raise awareness about her small, grassroots group and gain higher-profile support.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2024/08/28/profits-at-mar-a-lago-have-quadrupled-since-trump-left-the-white-house/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, profits at Mar-a-Lago have quadrupled since Trump left the White House.

00:08When a member of Donald Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago invited Joni Bryan's nonprofit

00:13to hold its annual gala at the Palm Beach Club in 2021, Bryan jumped at the chance.

00:19The executive director and founder of the 917 Society, which aims to educate students

00:24about the U.S. Constitution, thought it would be a great way to raise awareness about her

00:29small grassroots group and gain higher-profile support.

00:33While Bryan won't disclose how much the 917 Society paid the former president to

00:38host the event, it went well enough that the Nashville-based group has returned two more

00:43times in the past three years.

00:46In 2024, the nonprofit sold around 225 tickets at $1,250 apiece, bringing in about $280,000,

00:56which she says covered all costs and added a little cash to its coffers.

01:01Bryan says, quote,

01:02It's expensive there, sure, but not much more than Nashville.

01:07She notes that people are more than willing to pay extra for the chance to go to Trump's

01:10historic club.

01:12She adds, quote,

01:13It's not something you can just do every day.

01:16You really get the value, and it raises awareness.

01:20It also provides Donald Trump with a lot of money.

01:23The former president bought Mar-a-Lago for $10 million in 1985.

01:28The 18-acre property, which stretches from Palm Beach's oceanfront on the east side

01:32of the island to the lake on its west side, turned out to be one of his best real estate

01:37investments, now worth an estimated $325 million.

01:43Trump's family boasted that it was worth more than $1 billion during his civil trial

01:46in New York last fall.

01:49It's also one of the most profitable properties in the Trump empire, thanks to rising membership

01:54dues and a parade of events, including weddings, nonprofit benefits, and political fundraisers.

02:01While Mar-a-Lago did decent business before Trump got into politics, it performed even

02:05better when he was president, and even better still after he left the White House.

02:10The club took in an estimated $40 million or so in 2023.

02:14That's more than double what it generated in 2019, the year before the pandemic, and

02:19almost triple what it produced in 2014, before Trump entered politics.

02:24This according to an analysis of court filings and Trump's financial disclosures, the most

02:28recent of which was filed earlier this month.

02:32Most of that growth has come since Trump left office.

02:35In the four years Trump was in the White House, Mar-a-Lago took in about $90 million.

02:40In the three years after he left, it's done $105 million of business.

02:45That's money from initiation fees, currently reported to be $700,000, estimated annual

02:51dues north of $15,000, and dining tabs from the club's members, as well as event catering

02:57and facility rentals.

02:59Interestingly, spending by federal campaigns and committees is only on pace to reach $2

03:04million in 2024, roughly 2% of all spending at the club this year.

03:10The cost to run Mar-a-Lago, meanwhile, has remained relatively stable over the same time,

03:15ranging from around $12 million to $16 million.

03:19As revenues increase, so too have Trump's profit margins, which soared from about 9%

03:25in 2011 to around 60% in 2023.

03:29The Palm Beach Club threw off an estimated $22 million last year, more than seven times

03:35as much as it did before the most famous real estate mogul in America turned his attention

03:39to politics.

03:42As for why Mar-a-Lago is doing so well, in a 2016 deposition, Trump suggested it was politics.

03:49In the deposition, he said, quote,

03:51The manager told me recently, he said,

03:53Boy, it is actually the best year we've ever had at Mar-a-Lago.

03:56And I was looking at the numbers.

03:58I said, what do you attribute this to?

04:00He said, the campaign.

04:04For full coverage, check out Zach Everson's piece on Forbes.com.

04:09This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:12Thanks for tuning in.

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