Donald Trump has appointed Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to head a “department of government efficiency”, placing the two businessmen in charge of a pledged attempt to reduce regulations and spending across the board.
According to Mr Trump, the two will collaborate with him and the Office of Management and Budget until July 4, 2026, which marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence's signing.
“Doge” – the abbreviation for the new department – is also the name of a cryptocurrency coin that Musk has pushed. It is also the word for the most important government official in an Italian city-state.
In a statement released by Mr Trump on Tuesday (November 12), the newly established White House advisory group will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” seeking methods to “dismantle” bureaucracy, “slash” regulations, “cut” expenditures, and “restructure” agencies.
Shortly after the news was released, Mr Ramaswamy tweeted: “We will not go gently, @elonmusk”.
We will not go gently, @elonmusk. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/sbVka2vTiW
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 13, 2024
Here is a look at who Mr Ramaswamy is, including his career, personal life, net worth.
Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur, who previously declared himself a candidate for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.
Mr Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential campaign in January 2024 as he failed to build on a strong start to his campaign, stating that, “There’s no path for me to be the next president”.
The Cincinnati native is the son of Hindu Tamil immigrant parents who moved from Kerala and settled in Ohio.
Mr Ramaswamy completed his studies at Harvard College in 2007, attaining a degree in biology. There, he became the president of the Harvard Political Union.
This is when he co-founded Campus Venture Network, a private social networking website for university students who wanted to become entrepreneurs. The company was sold to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2009.
Meanwhile, Mr Ramaswamy also worked for the hedge fund QVT until 2014 and became a partner, co-managing the firm’s biotech portfolio.
In 2013, he achieved his degree in law from Yale Law School. In the past, he has shared that, by the time he completed this degree, he was already a multimillionaire thanks to his thriving career.
After leaving QVT, the entrepreneur founded biotech firm Roivant Sciences with hopes of revolutionising drug development.
In 2020, Mr Ramaswamy became the CEO of Roivant Sciences and its non-profit arm, Roivant Social Ventures. Within that same year, he also co-founded Chapter Medicare, a Medicare navigation platform.
Later, in 2022, he co-founded Strike Asset Management and worked as the CEO until his resignation in February 2023, when he decided to focus on his political aspirations.
His political career
Mr Ramaswamy had previously considered running in the 2022 election for the US Senate in Ohio, but decided against it.
On February 21, 2023, he officially declared his intention to become a Republican presidential candidate for the upcoming elections.
In line with this, he made 20 years of his personal income tax returns public and challenged his rivals to do the same.
His personal life
Mr Ramaswamy is married to physician Apoorva Tewari. The two met while studying at Yale.
Together, the couple is raising two sons, named Karthik and Arjun.
He is known to be a vegetarian and is thought to be Hindu, like his parents.
He currently lives in New York with his family, but he also owns a house in Ohio.
What is Vivek Ramaswamy’s net worth?
Mr Ramaswamy, 39, is a billionaire.
According to Forbes, the biotech investor and presidential candidate is worth $1bn (£785,333,119), placing his net worth over the billion-dollar threshold and making him one of the 20 youngest billionaires in America.
