Money Grab/Profit from his own market-moving decisions
Trump’s take from hosting Saudi-backed LIV Golf events detailed
Forbes estimated on November 18, 2025, that each LIV Golf tournament brings the host Trump property $800,000 to $950,000. Across roughly seven events since 2022, the Saudi-backed league has paid Trump’s golf businesses several million dollars, a modest sum against the league’s overall spending.
What happened
LIV Golf is the league created and funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. After the January 6 riot cost Trump’s courses the 2022 PGA Championship and any prospect of a British Open at Turnberry, LIV began staging events at his properties, starting at Bedminster in July 2022. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan rode with Trump in a golf cart.
On November 18, 2025, as Trump hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, Forbes reported what the events paid. Income statements in court filings showed about $800,000 for a 2022 LIV tournament and about $950,000 for a 2023 event. Forbes estimated each tournament brings the host Trump property $800,000 to $950,000.
With seven Trump-hosted events by then, Forbes estimated the total at roughly $6 million over four years. It noted that LIV’s lesser-known golfers earn a sum like that in prize money. An eighth event was set for 2026 at Trump’s club in Virginia, 20 miles from the White House. The income overlaps with golf-property revenue reported elsewhere, so it is not counted again.
Who benefited
Trump’s golf properties collected roughly $800,000 to $950,000 per event, about $6 million in all. The courses also regained professional tournaments after the PGA and the R&A dropped them, and Trump gained a public alliance with the Saudi fund’s governor.
Who wanted something
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns LIV Golf and was seeking legitimacy for a league built to rival the PGA Tour. Forbes describes what Trump got as prestige more than money; what the fund got was access to a once-and-future president. The Saudi government was dealing with the administration on arms sales and defense commitments in the same period.
Who lost out
A foreign sovereign wealth fund paid the president’s businesses while its government negotiated with his administration. The per-event fees are small by LIV’s standards, but they are paid by a foreign state to a sitting president’s company.
Why it matters
Trump publicly championed a Saudi-state-backed league in its fight with the PGA Tour, and his courses then hosted it, collecting roughly $6 million from a foreign government’s fund across seven events. Forbes’ finding is that the Saudis bought his support cheaply; the money was modest and the access was not.
Sources ForbesForbes Colombia (Spanish edition of the same report)NBC News