How Vivek Ramaswamy Made His Fortune
Senior wealth reporter John Hyatt joins Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss how Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made his money.
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00:00 I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.
00:02 Joining me now is senior wealth reporter, John Hyatt.
00:05 John, thanks so much for joining me.
00:06 Always good to see you, Brittany.
00:08 GOP presidential contender, Vivek Ramaswamy,
00:11 from a relatively unknown candidate
00:13 to part of the national conversation
00:15 really overnight starting in that August debate.
00:18 So to kick things off, can you tell us
00:21 who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
00:23 Vivek Ramaswamy is a businessman.
00:26 He made his fortune first in hedge fund investing
00:30 and then by starting a biotech company
00:32 called Roy Vance Sciences.
00:34 That's R-O-I Vance Sciences.
00:37 And Vivek is somebody who is always thinking about ROI,
00:42 whether it's in business, whether it's in politics,
00:46 whether it's in the friendships he pursues.
00:49 And his obsession with getting his own personal return
00:53 on investment and maximizing that has driven him
00:56 to the billionaire ranks.
00:57 He became a billionaire a few months ago
01:00 when Roy Vance stock was at its peak.
01:03 It's since dipped a little bit,
01:05 but he still boasts a very impressive $930 million net worth
01:09 as of yesterday's market close.
01:11 And he also owns a Strive Asset Management.
01:16 They're an investment firm that he founded
01:18 just before entering the presidential race.
01:22 So, he's somebody with his hands in multiple hats,
01:26 so to say.
01:27 He's got his biotech empire.
01:29 He's got his Strive Asset Management firm,
01:32 which sells ETFs to retail investors
01:35 and boasts an anti-woke ideology.
01:39 And now he's entered politics
01:41 and he's done a very interesting job
01:43 of sort of marrying those interests.
01:46 - Before we kick things off and discuss his obsession
01:49 with the return on investment,
01:51 he has some Midwestern roots.
01:53 Can you explain where he's from and the importance of that?
01:56 - Vivek grew up outside of Cincinnati.
01:59 He's a first generation son of two parents
02:04 who left India to pursue a better life in the United States.
02:09 He went to an elite Catholic boys' school
02:12 where he graduated as valedictorian.
02:15 And from there, he got accepted into Harvard
02:18 and he's been on the rise ever since.
02:21 - You mentioned that he has this sort of anti-woke ideology.
02:25 What was the catalyst to really propel Vivek Ramaswamy
02:29 to run for president?
02:30 And what are some of those main issues
02:32 that he's really championing?
02:33 - It's a good question.
02:35 Why is he running for president?
02:36 This is a millennial finance guy
02:39 who has no political experience.
02:42 He didn't vote in numerous presidential elections
02:45 during his 20s.
02:47 So I think we can trace Vivek's
02:50 sort of political awakening back to 2020.
02:54 He's always been conservative.
02:57 And at Harvard, he was affiliated
03:01 with the Republican Club there.
03:03 When he was at Yale Law School,
03:05 he made friends with people like future US Senator JD Vance,
03:09 who was a classmate of his.
03:11 He met Peter Thiel at Yale.
03:12 So he's always been somebody who's been conservative
03:16 and right-leaning.
03:17 But in 2020, there was, of course, we all know 2020,
03:21 it was early COVID.
03:25 There were protests after the murder of George Floyd.
03:29 Black Lives Matter was front and center.
03:31 And Vivek had, Vivek was faced by employees at Roy Vance,
03:36 who wanted him to speak out
03:39 on behalf of the Black Lives Matter protests.
03:41 And Vivek didn't wanna do that.
03:43 And that was sort of his first tussling
03:46 with political issues was in the business context.
03:50 So, you know, flash forward a year or so,
03:52 he's been writing op-eds for the Wall Street Journal.
03:55 He's appearing in Fox News.
03:57 He steps down from Roy Vance as CEO
03:59 to focus on this stuff full-time.
04:01 And he writes his first book, "Woke Inc."
04:04 Becomes a New York Times bestseller.
04:06 All of a sudden, he's kind of,
04:08 as the New Yorker christened him,
04:09 the godfather of anti-woke-ism.
04:13 And so, you know, from there,
04:14 he founded Strive Asset Management.
04:16 He found a way to monetize the anti-woke gospel
04:19 that he's preaching.
04:20 And by running for president,
04:22 he's essentially found a new platform
04:26 or a new way for him to get his message out there
04:29 and to build his own profile
04:31 and to build the profile of Strive as well.