Originally Posted by The Batlord

I was 5-6 at the time, so I don't know.

Originally Posted by snopes

Trump: Good or Bad Business Record?

So how are we to rate Donald Trump's business acumen in relative terms? Is the cautious businessman who minimizes risk, rarely fails, and shows a moderate return better than the brash businessman who often takes on highly risky pursuits, strikes out a lot, but also hits his share of grand slams? That's too subjective a question for us to answer, and the few numbers offered in this trope aren't very informative.

It's an oft-cited statistic that Donald Trump "has" 515 companies, but a number of those businesses are only connected to him in tangential ways (e.g., through licensing agreements) and aren't owned or directly controlled by him.

It's also an oft-cited statistic that about 80-90% of businesses fail within the first year to eighteen months, but such numbers typically refer to startups and small businesses, while much of Donald Trump's business empire involves expanding and building on existing large business lines and ventures.

Citing four or six failures out of 515 efforts isn't very enlightening in the absence of a real context in which to evaluate those numbers. A pro athlete who won 511 out of 515 matches would be acclaimed among the world's greatest, and a songwriter who hit the Top 40 with 511 out of 515 tunes would be heralded as the preeminent composer of all time. But a doctor who lost four patients out of 515 might find little demand for his services, and a commercial pilot who crashed four times in 515 flights would likely have a hard time finding an employer (or any passengers willing to fly with him). There is no meaningful standard to apply here.

The most important takeaway from this trope might be that you can't sum up the world of big business. much less any presidential candidate's qualifications, with a couple of numbers devoid of explanation or context.