If you really want to know who holds financial leverage over the president, focus on the big organizations inside Trump’s commercial buildings.
onald 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. Continue reading.