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Besides being the troubled son of former President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden is best known as a lawyer, lobbyist, and member of various boards. Most recently, he added “artist” and “author” to the list. But despite his famous name and host of titles, Hunter’s net worth is estimated at only about $1 million. That wasn’t always the case. Between 2016 and 2019, he made $7 million, about a third of which he earned as a board member of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings Limited, according to his December 2023 indictment.
In addition to his controversial business dealings, Hunter also earned a pretty penny as an emerging artist. Despite his status as a newcomer, Hunter was represented by New York art dealer George Bergès. “I wouldn’t sell any of my collectors a work of Hunter Biden or anybody else for $50 or $500,000, if I didn’t believe it was worth that,” he told WWD in 2021. “My commitment is to my collector as much as it is to my artist.”
His artistic merits aside, Hunter’s gun trial and Joe’s controversial decision to pardon him may have hurt him financially. Details of his situation surfaced in his March 2025 request to drop his lawsuit against Garrett Ziegler, a former Donald Trump aide he accused of hacking his laptop. “This significant decrease in revenue has also impacted my ability to pay off my significant debt, which has been reported in the press as being several million dollars,” he argued. Hunter claims he was blindsided by his downturn.
Hunter Biden’s artwork sales plummeted after Joe Biden’s presidency
Throughout his father’s four years in the White House, Hunter Biden made big bucks with his art. However, as Joe Biden’s political influence dwindled, so did his son’s art career. That’s what the former president’s embattled son claimed in the court documents in the laptop-related lawsuit. “In the 2 to 3 years prior to December 2023, I sold 27 pieces [of] art at an average price of $54,481.48, but since then, I have only sold 1 piece of art for $36,000,” he contended.
George Bergès’ ethics and savviness aside, a considerable amount of Hunter’s sales seem to have come from people associated with him or politics. His friend Kevin Morris, a Hollywood lawyer, purchased $875,000 worth of his artwork, according to The New York Times. Another buyer is Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Democratic donor whom Joe appointed to a government commission in 2022, the New York Post reported. His artwork is not the only work that suffered after his father left politics in 2024.
Sales of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” fell by about a third, and other opportunities never materialized. “I was expecting to obtain paid speaking engagements and paid appearances, but that has not happened,” he argued. Beyond his diminishing art and writing career, Hunter’s finances also took a hit when he lost his rental home amid the Los Angeles wildfires. “My lack of financial resources has been exacerbated by the fires in the Pacific Palisades,” he added.
