With their attacks on his ideology, misogyny, and hair failing to wound him, Donald Trump’s opponents have decided to really cut to the quick: They’re now attacking the boastful billionaire’s business record. For a man whose sense of self-worth is clearly wrapped up in his net-worth (he has repeatedly called Forbes magazine to complain when they’ve supposedly underestimated his fortune) that’s gotta hurt.
But maybe it shouldn’t. First, a blogger at Vox argued that Trump’s financial performance means that he would have been better off investing in an index fund rather than building up his business. This bizarre argument was masterfully dispatched with by Slate and Bloomberg View. Now, political operative Liz Mair, writing in the Daily Beast, says that “Trump is only successful in the branding and self-promotion department, and rather fair-to-middling in all the others entailed in running a thriving business.”
This is an odd statement, insofar as Trump’s business is branding and self-promotion. As an excellent cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek reported, Trump is basically out of the construction business these days. His is mostly a licensing company now; he sells the right to slap his name on buildings and products. To say that Trump is “only successful in the branding and self-promotion department” is like saying that “Apple is only successful in the selling phones, computers, and tablets market” or that “Uber is only successful in the ride-share business.”
And it’s simply not the case that Trump is “fair-to-middling” at running his business. In fact, Trump’s business is insanely profitable. According to that Businessweek story, the Trump Organization brought in about $605 million in revenue last year, and managed to clear somewhere between $275 and $325 million in profit. That’s a phenomenally high profit margin (which, of course, is a key sign of the health of a business). Trump’s approximately 50 percent margin means his company is more profitable than Pfizer, Gazprom, and Hyundai – all the most profitable companies in their respective industries. Trump’s company even has higher margins than Apple. Who knew? It turns out Steve Jobs was only “fair-to-middling” at running a business.
