Uncle Scrooge McDuck’s net worth has always been a topic of interest for fans, but the actual math is rather complicated. Nevertheless, interested parties theorize. They contemplate the depth of his gold pile or construct equations based on remarks he’s made. A popular business magazine, an ambitious content creator, and even a mathematician convert McDuck’s ‘umpteen’ dollars into a real medium of exchange equivalent. Estimates vary as widely as McDuck’s income streams. People have scanned the canonical comics for financial-related content. They’ve studied cartoon footage of McDuck’s vault.

One of the more erudite analysts even chose to apply financial concepts to a specific claim made by McDuck in an otherwise random comic. For a long time, Mr. McDuck’s net worth was only expressed using cartoon currency. There’s what McDuck claims, what his accountant says, and then there’s Duck Tales lore. It’s been said that he can tell a tale for every coin he hoards as he recalls how he made each one, beginning with his ‘number one dime’. But how much money would it be exactly?

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How Much Money Does Scrooge McDuck Have?

scrooge mcduck in his money pit

McDuck’s total net worth is questionable even for fans who’ll settle for an answer expressed in cartoon currency. During 1956’s The Second-Richest Duck (by Carl Barks), the mega-rich Scottish duck is reassured he’s the world’s richest duck with holdings equaling: one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred and twenty-three dollars, and sixty-two cents. However, 1986’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (by Don Rosa) reports a dramatically different total with completely different orders of magnitude: five multiplujillion, nine impossibidillion, seven fantasticatrillion dollars, and sixteen cents. Making matters more confusing, Disney’s original DuckTales television series has McDuck’s accountant Fenton Crackshell claim McDuck’s fortune totals: six hundred septillion, three hundred and eighty sextillion, nine hundred and forty-seven trillion, five hundred and twenty-two billion dollars and thirty-six cents.

Many try expressing McDuck’s net worth in real money terms. Forbes magazine, for instance, declares him a billionaire in their 2013 Forbes Fictional 15 with $65.4 billion, beating out the genius inventor Iron Man, Tony Stark. The popular business magazine didn’t show their work as any good math student would though. Matthew Patrick’s Film Theory, on the other hand, shows how far fans will go, by attacking the problem from every conceivable angle. He creates equations based on measurements of McDuck’s money bin using footage from Disney’s DuckTales episode: ‘ The Money Vanishes’. He even considers the preposterous claim McDuck hoards three cubic acres of gold.

YouTube's 'Polymathematic' also shares promising calculations. Consulting Barks’ story The Magic-Hourglass’ (1950), Polymathematic constructs an equation from a claim made by McDuck: if he keeps losing a billion dollars per minute, he’ll be broke in six hundred years. Keeping in mind the economic concept of the Time Value of Money, Polymathematic solves the problem. But this is not a simple dimensional analysis. The calculations must be completed using a high-precision calculator and the resulting number is so large it's not Excel-friendly. Problems still arise with this real-world math, like the risks of returns or taking into account leap years. Still, Polymathematic comes to the more reliable conclusion: Uncle Scrooge McDuck is a quadrillionaire at the least.

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Where Does Uncle Scrooge’s Wealth Come From?

scrooge mcduck selling peat

Scrooge McDuck would say he’s made his fortune by being ‘smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies’. He's an ‘adventure capitalist’ who hunts for lost treasure to add to his fortune but also pursues various start-ups. Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge #3 (1953) has the legendary McDuck showing him earning his first dime, a coin completely useless at the time. While shining boots in Scotland a dishonest customer paid with American currency. McDuck kept the dime as a good luck charm, even stowing it atop a velvet pillow, to remind him of his lifelong pursuit of attaining more and more wealth honestly.

After his hardscrabble beginnings, among other things, McDuck would go on to hunt for treasures, mine for diamonds, and own a variety of manufacturing firms, including a bean factory. The truth is, only McDuck knows how much money he has. McDuck would say his net worth is ‘nobody’s goldurn business’ anyway. Perhaps, McDuck appreciates the perplexity; potential swindlers, thieves, and his arch-rival (Flintheart Glomgold) are kept guessing. What’s more, fine-tuning the exact dollar amount of his net worth takes away the magic of this thrifty web-toed treasure hunter and legendary comic hero.