POLITICS
What is Vivek Ramaswamy’s net worth? How did he get his wealth?
The once-billionaire will be the richest candidate on stage at the debate, making his money from investment and the biotech industry.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the five remaining candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, is also one of the richest. According to Forbes, Ramaswamy was a billionaire in 2023 before adverse market conditions cause his net worth to drop.
In 2007, at the age of 22, he started his career in finance as an associate partner at QVT Financial, a hedge fund. Seven years later he founded Roivant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that aimed to accelerate the development of innovative drugs. It is based in tax-haven Bermuda and was funded by $100 million in start up captial from investors.
Using his money from this company he set up his asset management company Strive in 2022 before resigning this year.
Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
In February 2023, the 38-year old announced that he was running for the Republican nomination for president. He is the youngest candidate in the field and one of the least experienced in politics.
An attraction for Republican voters would be his ‘stand’ against what he perceives as ‘woke’. In 2021, Ramaswamy he penned a book titled “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” in which he critiqued what he perceived as the increasing influence of progressive ideologies in corporate America.
He is a supporter of Donald Trump and has promised to pardon him if elected president next year.
Ramaswamy has said he would abolish the Department of Education as well as the FBI and IRS, while he would seek to normalise relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine.