Monday, Jan. 08, 1990

Business Notes PUBLISHING

Publisher Malcolm Forbes annually trumpets the net worth of everybody in America who is superrich -- except himself, that is. His refusal to nail down his net worth in Forbes' annual tally of the 400 richest Americans has prompted an endless stream of estimates. Last week the tabloid New York Post entered the guessing game with its analysis of Forbes' assets: the eight homes in locations from France to Fiji; the magazines, including American Heritage and egg; the 2,200 paintings; the twelve jeweled Faberge eggs; more than 400 sq. mi. of other real estate; and on and on. The verdict: Malcolm is a billionaire, but only if you swallow an estimate of $65 million for his flagship magazine's annual profits (the privately held enterprise releases no figures).

Why is Forbes so elusive about his money? Blame the taxman. "For everyone else on the Forbes list, the IRS knows it's an estimate," he explains. "But they'd assume any figure for me was absolutely accurate."