Donald Trump has announced he is leaving his "great" business empire “in total” ahead of taking the reins as America’s 45th President.

The move is a direct effort to address concerns his extensive business and property holdings present conflicts of interest that could influence decision making.

Mr Trump took to Twitter to announce the decision to his 16 million followers, and delivered the news in the form of a cliff-hanger, saying he would be “leaving my…”

"Leaving my..." what? Tell us Mr President-elect, you big tease.

After his first tantalising tweet, Mr Trump waited over five minutes before relieving his followers of the agony of uncertainty, by saying it was his business that he would be leaving.

“While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important,” the President-elect said.