Donald Trump reveals $13 billion fortune in new documents, but are they accurate?

HOLD on to your hairpiece. Donald Trump has just released documents revealing his personal fortune, and the amount he earns is staggering.

FILE - In this June 29, 2015, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles for a photographer before he addresses members of the City Club of Chicago, in Chicago. As other presidential candidates fight to raise money, Trump is reminding everyone he’s already got a lot of it. The celebrity businessman’s campaign was expected to reveal details on July 15 of his fortune, which he estimated last month at nearly $9 million when announcing his Republican presidential candidacy. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

WE knew he was rich, but ... wow.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has unveiled new documents setting his personal fortune at more than US$10 billion (AU$13.5b) and an annual income of more than US$362 million (AU$491m).

The businessman says he filed his personal financial disclosure with federal regulators Wednesday afternoon, though he has not released the form publicly.

Among the sources of his income has been US$214 million (AU$290m) in payments from NBC related to his business reality television show, The Apprentice. NBC recently cut its ties with Trump.

The $10 billion figure — up nearly 15 per cent since the previous year, by Trump’s calculation, would make Trump the wealthiest person ever to run for president. But there was little information available about how Trump calculated the figure.

Trump’s campaign says the federal forms are “not designed for a man of Mr. Trump’s massive wealth.”

If accurate, the figure would surpass previous wealthy candidates like Ross Perot, business heirs like Steve Forbes or private-equity investors like Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee.

“I have a Gucci store worth more than Romney,” Trump told the Des Moines Register last month, referring to the fashion company’s flagship store in New York’s Trump Tower.

Despite the filing, scepticism about his net worth is likely to remain.

Spot the billionaire (maybe).

Trump, for example, valued his personal brand and marketing deals at US$3.3 billion (AU$4.4b) when he announced his candidacy. Forbes Magazine, however, valued his brand at just US$125 million (AU$169m). And that was before Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants cost him business partnerships with companies such as Macy’s and Univision.

Trump in the past has taken umbrage at suggestions he might not be as fantastically wealthy as he says. In 2009, he sued author Timothy O’Brien for defamation after O’Brien wrote that Trump’s net worth might be as low as US$150 million (AU$203m).

Trump lost the suit and a subsequent appeal. In a deposition, the panel of appellate judges noted, Trump conceded that his public disclosures of his wealth depended partly on his mood.

“Even my own feelings affect my value to myself,” Trump said.

Originally published as Donald Trump reveals $13 billion fortune in new documents, but are they accurate?