How This Real Estate Tycoon Became Trump's Middle East Envoy Pick

Forbes

Real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff built a fortune pursuing creative developments and cashing out at the right time. After campaigning alongside Trump, he’s now set to join him in Washington.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2024/11/20/inside-the-fortune-of-trumps-close-friend-and-middle-east-envoy/  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, how Trump's Middle East envoy pick became a billionaire.

00:06In mid-November, President-elect Donald Trump watched the sixth test flight of SpaceX's

00:11Starship rocket alongside Elon Musk at the mega-billionaire's launch site in Brownsville,

00:16Texas.

00:17The pair were joined by Steve Whitkoff, Trump's longtime friend and a fellow real estate developer.

00:23Whitkoff, who is 67 years old, has been by Trump's side on the campaign trail for months.

00:29When the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Trump fired at a gunman hiding in

00:33the shrubs near the sixth hole at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach

00:37in September, Trump was golfing with Whitkoff.

00:41A month later, Whitkoff spoke at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally.

00:46And in the hectic final day of the campaign, as Trump held rallies in Pennsylvania and

00:50Michigan on November 4th, before returning home to Mar-a-Lago to watch the results the

00:54next day, he was followed again by Whitkoff, whose Gulfstream private jet criss-crossed

01:00the country in Trump's tow.

01:02At the rally in Manhattan in October, Whitkoff said,

01:06Our city has drifted away from what it once was, but if there's one man who can restore

01:10it to its greatness, it's my dear friend President Donald J. Trump.

01:14I've known the president for over 30 years, not just as a leader, but as a friend.

01:20In yet another case of the president-elect naming someone from his circle of friends

01:24to a position in his new administration, Trump appointed Whitkoff co-chairman of his inaugural

01:28committee on November 9th and named him as his special envoy to the Middle East four

01:33days later.

01:35He's expected to continue the work of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate

01:39the Abraham Accords between Israel and two Gulf states during Trump's first term.

01:45Kushner has said he won't be formally involved in the new administration and will stay focused

01:49on a Saudi Arabia-backed private equity firm, which has helped boost his fortune to an estimated

01:54$900 million.

01:57In a press release announcing the envoy appointment, Trump said Whitkoff, quote,

02:01will be an unrelenting voice for peace.

02:04Peace was in all capital letters.

02:07It's unclear whether Whitkoff will need Senate approval.

02:09Special envoys that work under the State Department have required confirmation votes since January

02:142023, although President Joe Biden skirted that rule by appointing an envoy as presidential

02:19advisor in the White House instead.

02:22Not only do Whitkoff and Trump hail from the same city and the same industry, they are

02:26both billionaires.

02:27Forbes dug into Whitkoff's real estate developments for the first time and now estimates the previously

02:32low-profile developer to be worth at least $1 billion.

02:37That makes him one of at least half a dozen billionaires in Trump's second administration,

02:41though not in the same league as Trump himself, at $5.5 billion, or anywhere close to the

02:46world's richest person and Trump's latest confidant, Elon Musk, whose fortune post-election

02:51skyrocketed to $326.2 billion as of the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

02:58Whitkoff's fortune is largely made up of the Whitkoff Group, a New York-based real

03:02estate developer he founded in 1997.

03:05He also owns homes in Manhattan, the Hamptons, and South Florida, where he's developing

03:09projects that include the Dutchman's Pipe Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course

03:14with a luxury hotel, in partnership with Soviet-born billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries.

03:21Whitkoff built his real estate fortune largely by identifying undervalued properties and

03:25raising capital from the same investors over and over again.

03:28Recently, he's been focusing on building luxury condos and hotels in New York, Los

03:33Angeles, and Florida, where he first invested before the post-pandemic boom.

03:38Among his most notable holdings are One High Line, a pair of luxury condo towers abutting

03:43the High Line Park on the west side of Manhattan, and the Shore Club in Miami Beach, which will

03:48have 49 condos and a 73-room auberge hotel when it's complete in 2027.

03:55For full coverage, check out Giacomo Tagnini's piece on Forbes.com.

04:01This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:03Thanks for tuning in.

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