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. 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 Romney owns—184 in all. 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.
Real Estate + $18 Million
The Romneys have rejiggered their property portfolio in recent years. The family, who lived in a 7-bedroom colonial in a Boston suburb for 20 years, sold their home, which had a swimming pool and tennis court, for $3.5 million in 2009. Mitt and Ann bought a more modest condo in the same town the following year. They swapped their Park City, Utah ski chalet, sold for a reported $5.2 million also in 2009, for a $12 million beach house in La Jolla, Calif., bought a year earlier. (That home was reassessed last year at $8.7 million, dropping the Romneys’ tax bill. A local agent thinks that even that figure is “pie in the sky” today.) The family also has a summer compound in Wolfeboro, N.H., on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, consisting of a main home, a converted stable and other land that have been combined.
Bain Alternative Investments +$52 Million
Romney cut a deal with Bain when he departed, giving him a share of profits from all Bain funds between February 1999 and February 2009. He also received the right to invest his own capital alongside current Bain partners. He now has stakes in dozens of his old firm’s funds.
Other Alternative Investments + $29 Million
Nearly all of Romney’s non-Bain alternative assets are managed by connections. Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer oversees more than $1 million; he has also donated $1 million to the Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. Romney also has money in Golden Gate Capital, whose investment team is largely Bain alums, and son Taggart’s Solamere Capital.
Debt Securities + $91 Million
Romney has an estimated $10 million worth of structured notes from
Mutual Funds/ETFs + $23 Million
Among his top holdings are an S&P 500 ETF, an S&P Europe 350 ETF, Goldman-managed mutual funds, and SPDRs.
Individual Equities + $600,000
Sources told FORBES that over the past nine months Romney dumped 71 stocks and ADRs worth an estimated $6 million, including McDonald’s,
Cash + $16 Million
Pre-race sell-off:??????Since August Romney’s cash, held in currencies such as U.S. and Australian dollars, has jumped from $1 million.
Gold + $260,000
Public bears???????The bulk of their investments are in blind trusts, but the Romneys own a quarter of a million in gold directly.
METHODOLOGY FORBES analyzed 184 assets belonging to Romney to come up with a net worth. Assets that jumped to a higher bracket were valued at the 25th percentile of the current range, while those that fell were valued in the 75th percentile of the current range. Assets that stayed within their bracket were appreciated at the market rate from their initial median value through May 14; benchmark indexes were used as proxies for nonmarketable assets. Real estate was valued based on current property values; for cars we used the values as assessed by the local assessor’s office.
The ROMNEY BOYS’ $100 MILLION WINDFALL
Mitt’s net worth might be pushing $350 million except for some early-stage estate planning. In 1995 Mitt and Ann set up an irrevocable trust, now worth $100 million, benefiting their 5 sons. Not a ne’er-do-well in this bunch: Eldest son, Taggart, is a cofounder of investment firm Solamere Capital, named for a Deer Valley, Utah neighborhood, along with Spencer Zwick, the former finance director of Mitt’s first presidential campaign and his former deputy chief of staff when he was governor. Former
Mitt’s tax returns list these direct out-of-pocket gifts to the church of LDS
2010: $1,525,000
2011: $2,600,000
Transportation + $425,000
Romney owns horses through Rob Rom Enterprises, LLC, a Moorpark, Calif.-based entity that has a one-third stake in Rafalca, a 15-year-old Oldenburg mare that represented the U.S. in the Reem/Acra World Cup Final in the Netherlands in late April. Ann, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, rides horses as a form of therapy. She and her husband reportedly ride such breeds as Austrian Warmbloods and Missouri Fox Trotters. Also counted are their four cars.
Mitt Romney’s total wealth= $230 Million
