How Vivek Ramaswamy Became A Billionaire
232,871
Published 2023-09-27
“Democrats and Republicans alike, we tend to be more proud of a country when we’re all making more money in that country,” he tells 100 or so diners enjoying turkey sandwiches and diet Cokes. “We don’t have to flog ourselves for capitalism. Stop apologizing for capitalism. We should embrace capitalism.”
Ramaswamy certainly has. At 38 years old, the biotech investor and “anti-woke” warrior is worth more than $950 million. His net worth was over $1 billion about a week ago, making him one of the 20 youngest billionaires in the country, before a downturn in the market pulled him just under the billion-dollar threshold, according to Forbes’ calculations. Still, he appears to be the second-wealthiest person competing in the Republican presidential primary, behind only Donald Trump (whose net worth Forbes last pegged at $2.5 billion).
Ramawamy’s fortune stems from a drug-development company named Roivant Sciences, which went public in 2021. Its stock is up nearly 40% this year, boosting the value of Ramaswamy’s 10% stake to roughly $600 million. Since founding the company nine years ago, he has sucked over $260 million out of Roivant in the form of salary, bonuses and capital gains. He diversified those proceeds into a pretty standard investment portfolio, roughly 60% stocks and 40% bonds. But he also added some flavor, with a dash of Bitcoin and Ethereum, some shares of YouTube competitor Rumble and a stake in crypto payments firm MoonPay.
Then there are his political interests. In 2021, Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant and got into politics, authoring a book called “Woke, Inc.,” which criticized corporate America’s growing focus on social justice issues and the ESG (environmental, social and governance) movement taking over Wall Street. A year later, he founded an “anti-woke” index fund provider—think BlackRock, without all the talk about saving the world—named Strive Asset Management. Investors recently valued Strive at a lofty $300 million or so, according to two individuals familiar with the financing, implying that Ramaswamy’s stake is worth well over $100 million.
Read the full story on Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2023/08/21/how-vive…
0:00 Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
02:05 Midwest Roots
02:42 Fight Against 'Wokeness'
04:54 Politics and ROI
07:54 Ramaswamy's Campaign Style
09:15 Controversies
11:56 What's Ramaswamy's Personality
13:44 What People Miss About Ramaswamy
15:00 What's Next For Ramaswamy
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All Comments (21)
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That is called competence and being smart, being articulate and having high IQ and EQ. It's simply called winning that we have forgotten in this country. China is clear winner when we are derailing our best of best.
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Dudes is extremely sharp
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What's this? Honest and fair reporting. Did we teleport to the 20th century?
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Anyone who knows market in pharmaceutical sector understand how hard it is to get 1 FDA approved drug , Vivek got 5 FDA. Look , how much bias and propaganda speak, still don't change the reality that he is multimillionaire even if he fails he had succeeded in life with money, family and now fame.
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Vivek is brilliant. He had the genius idea of liberating languishing drugs from big pharma because in his assessment those drugs were more likely to be winners than what the big pharma thought - big pharma had its own set of dynamics. And then he developed a unique business model giving skin in the game to lead scientists. That’s how he has got to live a fuller arc of American dream.
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5 FDA approved drugs. Voting for Vivek
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America please vote for Vivek, Vivek is once in lifetime opportunity.
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Vivek is who we need as president. Maybe it’d be a good change to have a president who’s obsessed with ROI rather than mindlessly dumping tax dollars into useless government positions and countries across the world. I couldn’t tell if these guys are trying to bash him or promote him, but after everything was said I just like him more.
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Vivek is a common sense role model. It’s time to bring common sense back to America. No excuses.
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Vivek on team America 🇺🇸 is great for America and the world 🌎 he is smart and sensible
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Vivek is the president this country needs!
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GOD BLESS Vivek “The Truth” Ramaswamy 💯💯💯💯💯
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This was excellent reporting thank you
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I hope and pray that Vivek becomes the next POTUS. We need someone smart (high IQ and EQ) in the WH. It's about time.
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this is a woke hit-piece, not expected from forbes
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"Vivek" means "wisdom" in ancient Sanskrit language.
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Vivek is the man
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Voting for Vivek!
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thank you guys
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Ill be a billionaire soon and by 38 ill be surely broke to start all over again to become a billionaire❤❤
