Arnold Schwarzenegger has a net worth of more than $100 million, his wealth founded on huge movie paydays and hefty stakes in a portfolio of private equity funds, according to tax experts' analyses conducted for The Chronicle.

The estimate was described as conservative by the three tax professionals who reviewed information from his 2001 U.S. tax return. But it gives the clearest view yet of the fortune that Schwarzenegger amassed during a 25-year career as a Hollywood action hero.

The actor, now a leading Republican candidate in the campaign to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, has balked at disclosing his net worth, citing privacy concerns.

The tax information reviewed by experts came from tax documents that the Schwarzenegger campaign showed to reporters last Sunday. The experts found the filing peppered with entries reflecting that Schwarzenegger earns, spends and -- on some investments at least -- loses money at extraordinarily high levels. For example, in 2001, he:

-- paid $383,000 for household help.

-- paid nearly $1 million to investment advisers.

-- borrowed an estimated $10 million to buy stock.

-- lost more than $10 million on an unusual venture in which he bought a jumbo jet for $133 million and leased it back to its original owner, Singapore Airlines.

Campaign spokesman Sean Walsh, asked about the experts' findings, declined comment on Schwarzenegger's wealth, saying, "We believe that information is private."

Schwarzenegger's fortune isn't enough to put him on Forbes' list of the nation's wealthiest people. But if elected, Schwarzenegger easily would become one of the richest California governors ever, on the list with railroad baron Leland Stanford and actor and later President Ronald Reagan. Other millionaire candidates in the recall include former baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, business executive Bill Simon, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and commentator Arianna Huffington.

The experts said they based their estimate that the actor's net worth exceeds $100 million on the $3.95 million payout Schwarzenegger received in interest, dividends and bond proceeds from his stake in 35 different investment accounts.

It's likely his net worth is even higher, they said, because the return gives little hint of the value of other important assets, including his stake in shopping malls in San Diego and Ohio and his estate in Pacific Palisades.

"We're just looking at the cash" in his investment accounts, said San Francisco tax accountant Mark W. Eichstaedt, one of the experts The Chronicle consulted. "That's not valuing the real estate, and not valuing the residual rights he has to his movies."

Sandy Murray, an accountant at San Francisco's Burr, Pilger & Mayer, agreed with the estimate, saying, "I can easily say he has $100 million" based on the value of his investment portfolio alone.

Donald Goldsmith, a former San Francisco tax lawyer-turned-author of popular science books, said that if Schwarzenegger is appropriately diversified, his net worth probably tops $200 million -- $100 million in investments, $100 million in real estate.

Other experts were reluctant to estimate Schwarzenegger's fortune, saying its extent could only be known by reviewing the tax filings of the candidate's personal services corporation, Oak Productions.

Schwarzenegger has funneled tens of millions in movie earnings into the firm, and the experts said the filing reflects that Oak Productions itself has multimillion dollar holdings.

The experts said the filing helps fill out the financial portrait of a high-income, big spender. He reported $26.1 million in total income and paid $9.2 million in state and federal taxes in 2001.

Last week Schwarzenegger gave the public a limited look at his finances, allowing reporters to review two years of his tax returns. Filings for Oak Productions and other corporations Schwarzenegger controls weren't made available, and reporters were barred from photocopying the documents that were provided.

Paul Wachter, the star's financial adviser, briefed reporters at the time but declined to disclose Schwarzenegger's net worth, saying, "We're not going to get into that."

To obtain an estimate of his fortune, The Chronicle reconstructed Schwarzenegger's 2001 tax form from notes taken at the briefing and provided copies to experts.

The experts said the driving force of Schwarzenegger's wealth is Oak Productions. Wachter says all of his client's movie revenues are routed through the firm. In 2001, that would have included the payout from the action films "Collateral Damage" and "The Sixth Day."

Schwarzenegger drew $22.4 million in pay from Oak Productions in 2001, but tax lawyer Robert Sommers said he believed the star's movie revenue was probably double that. Because the star's personal returns make no mention of a retirement or medical plan, Sommers said it was likely that Oak Productions held back substantial income for those costs.

In addition to $22.4 million in salary from Oak Productions, the filing shows that Schwarzenegger also was paid $500,000 in dividends from the firm, accountant Murray noted. That dividend amount suggests the firm holds perhaps $10 million in investments in unknown entities, he said.

The return shows that Schwarzenegger has invested in 35 different capital funds, most of them what Eichstaedt called "vanilla" investment programs run by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other investment houses.

The biggest single payout -- more than $900,000 in dividends on an investment account -- came from New York's small, exclusive Offitbank, which bills itself as "the wealth management bank." It caters to a clientele of 800 investors whose average deposit tops $17 million, according to the bank's Web site.

To manage his investments, Schwarzenegger paid advisers more than $1.1 million in 2001, the return reflects.

Murray said the return also suggests that Schwarzenegger had invested $10 million in borrowed money. "That was common during the dot-com boom," he said.

By far the biggest loser in Schwarzenegger's portfolio was Legend International Air.

In public records, Schwarzenegger has said he is "sole member" of this corporation, which according to the Singapore Business Times paid $133 million in 1997 to buy a Boeing 747 jumbo jet from Singapore Airlines and then leased the plane back for an undisclosed amount.

Schwarzenegger is "taking a bath every year" on the venture, said Murray: $2 million in losses in 2001, $8 million in carry-over losses from the years before that. Without a look at Legend's tax returns, Murray said, it wasn't possible to know whether the losses are for tax purposes -- to be recouped by gains when Schwarzenegger finally sells the aircraft -- or whether it is just a bad investment.

Another loser is Main Street Plaza, a real estate firm that owns a $5 million office building in Santa Monica. Schwarzenegger said he lost $200,000 on the venture; he losses can be used to offset his gains when he sells the property.

One unusual expense on the return was the $388,000 Schwarzenegger paid for household help.