Trump is furious at Forbes after the publication dropped him from its 400 wealthiest Americans list

• Trump is angry that Forbes kicked him off of its list of wealthiest Americans.
• Forbes says Trump just isn't worth enough money, especially because his social media play fizzled.

Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Forbes after the financial publication recently dropped the former president from its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans that includes the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett.

Trump said the publication "lost most of its relevance long ago" and "knows less about me than Stormy Daniels (who doesn't know me at all!) or Rosie O'Donnell," a reference to the adult film star who claimed she had an affair with him and the actress and TV host that Trump with which a long-running feud. The former president also repeatedly claimed Forbes was "China-owned" and referenced China's sovereign wealth fund that was involved in an abandoned deal to take the publication public.

"For years Forbes has attacked me with really dumb writers assigned to hit me hard, and I am now up 60 Points on the Republicans, and beating Crooked Joe by a lot. So much for Forbes!" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth.

Forbes said that the former president failed to make the influential list for the second time in three years, because some of his portfolio has failed to live up to the hype. One of the main reasons was that Truth Social, the very social media platform where Trump lashed out at Forbes, has lost significant value.

"Trump once envisioned a significant percentage of the country logging onto the platform. But that never happened," Forbes' Dan Alexander wrote of the decision. "Roughly 6.5 million have signed up so far, about 1% of the total on X (né Twitter). Trump's 90% stake in Truth Social's parent company has plummeted in value from an estimated $730 million to less than $100 million."

As Forbes alluded to in explaining its decision, Trump's net worth is in the news for far more than vanity. New York Attorney General Letitia James has argued Trump exaggerated his net worth by billions. New York Supreme Court Justice issued a surprise order that was effectively viewed as a "corporate death penalty" after finding that Trump committed fraud for years. The former president's legal team quickly appealed the decision, which another judge put on hold for the time being.

Trump's claims about Forbes' China ties are outdated and extremely misleading. Despite his claims, China's sovereign wealth fund does not own Forbes. In May, Forbes announced that Austin Russell, an automotive tech tycoon, had acquired an 82% stake in the parent company of the magazine. The Hong-Kong based Integrated Whale Media Investments now holds only a minority stake in the company.

Trump's lengthy rant did not refer to Whale Media Investments, but he mentioned the China Investment Corp, the nation's sovereign wealth fund. The fund, per the South China Morning Post, owned just over a $11 million stake in a company that was going to take Forbes public. As The New York Times later reported, the agreement to take Forbes public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) was abandoned.

This is not to say that there have not been concerns about Forbes' ownership. A Washington Post contributor pointed out in 2017 examples of potential "editorial meddling," including the publication cutting ties with a long-time Communist Party critic.

A spokesperson for Forbes pointed Insider to the publication's own story, which included a statement that defended Forbes' view of Trump's net worth.

"Twice a year, we publish a detailed breakdown of our work, offering a far more accurate portrayal of Trump's personal balance sheet than the fictitious documents the Trump Organization has created over the years," the publication said.