Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Assets

Assets

Time magazine estimated in 1996 that the church's assets exceeded $30 billion. This figure represents only one side of the balance sheet and does not include current liabilities for maintenance, although the LDS Church incurs virtually no long-term liabilities. After the Time article was published, the LDS Church responded that the financial figures in the article were "grossly exaggerated." Three years later, annual revenues were estimated to be $5 billion, with total assets at $25 to $30 billion. Whatever the actual figure, some estimate that about two-thirds of it is made up of non-income-producing facilities and the land they sit on, including thousands of meetinghouses and 140 temples the LDS Church operates worldwide, as well as educational institutions such as Brigham Young University. The remaining assets include direct investments in for-profit businesses largely managed through Deseret Management Corporation. Although the LDS Church is a tax-exempt organization, its for-profit entities generate "unrelated business income" that is subject to federal, state, and local income and other taxes.

The church's holdings include:

• AgReserves Inc. - the largest producer of nuts in the United States (circa. 1997)
• Hawaii Reserves, Inc. - Miscellaneous church holdings in Hawaii. When combined with the Polynesian Cultural Center (the leading paid visitor attraction in Hawaii) and Brigham Young University-Hawaii, LDS Church-related entities generated revenue of $260 million for the Hawaii economy in 2005.
• Farmland Reserve Inc. - 228,000 acres (923 km²) in Nebraska,; 51,600 acres in Osage County, Oklahoma; and over 312,000 acres (1,260 km²) in Florida (dba Deseret Cattle and Citrus).
• Bonneville International Corporation - the 14th largest radio chain in the U.S.
• Deseret News - a daily Utah newspaper, second-largest in the state of Utah.
• Beneficial Financial Group - An insurance and financial services company with assets of $3.1 billion.