Vivek Ramaswamy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vivek Ramaswamy
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Ramaswamy in 2024
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| Born |
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy
August 9, 1985 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
| Occupation |
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| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Apoorva Tewari
(m. 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (born August 9, 1985) is an American businessman and politician. An entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs their own business. He started a company called Roivant Sciences in 2014, which focuses on making new medicines.
In February 2023, Ramaswamy announced he wanted to become the Republican Party's choice for president in the 2024 United States presidential election. However, he stopped his campaign in January 2024 after not getting enough votes in Iowa. He then supported Donald Trump for president.
Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents came to the U.S. from India. He studied biology at Harvard University and later got a law degree from Yale Law School. Before starting Roivant Sciences, he worked at a company that managed investments. He also helped start another investment company called Strive Asset Management.
Ramaswamy believes the United States is facing a "national identity crisis." He thinks new ideas like "COVID-ism," "climate-ism," and "gender ideology" are causing this. He also doesn't agree with companies focusing on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) goals. In January 2024, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth to be over $960 million, mostly from his work in medicine and finance.
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Early Life and School
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy was born on August 9, 1985, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were immigrants from India and followed the Hindu religion. His father was an engineer for General Electric, and his mother was a doctor who specialized in older patients. They came from a place called Kerala in India.
Vivek grew up in Ohio. His family often went to the local Hindu temple. His piano teacher, who was a Christian, also helped shape his ideas about society. He spent many summer vacations visiting India with his parents. When he was in high school, Ramaswamy was a very good tennis player.
His Education Journey
Ramaswamy went to public schools until eighth grade. Then, he attended St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, which is a Catholic school. He graduated at the top of his class in 2003.
In 2007, Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biology. He earned very high honors and was part of a special academic group called Phi Beta Kappa. At Harvard, he was known for being confident and liking to debate. He even performed rap music under the name "Da Vek" and worked as an intern at investment companies. He wrote his final paper on the ethical questions about creating human-animal mixes, which won him an award.
In 2011, Ramaswamy received a special scholarship called The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. He later said that by the time he went to Yale for law school, he was already quite wealthy from his business work. He became friends with JD Vance, who later became a U.S. Vice President. Ramaswamy earned his law degree in 2013.
His Business Ventures
Starting His Career
In 2007, Ramaswamy helped start a company called Campus Venture Network. This company created a website for college students who wanted to start their own businesses. The company was sold in 2009.
From 2007 to 2014, Ramaswamy worked at an investment company called QVT Financial. He helped manage their investments in companies that develop new medicines.
Roivant Sciences and Other Companies
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In 2014, Ramaswamy started his own biotechnology company, Roivant Sciences. The name "Roi" stands for "return on investment," meaning how much money you get back from what you put in. The company was set up in Bermuda, which is a place with low taxes. It received nearly $100 million from investors to start.
Roivant's plan was to buy rights to medicines from bigger companies that hadn't been fully developed yet. Then, Roivant would try to finish developing them and sell them. The company created many smaller companies, each focusing on different types of diseases or regions.
In 2015, Ramaswamy raised $360 million for a Roivant company called Axovant Sciences. They wanted to develop a medicine for Alzheimer's disease. Axovant bought the rights to this medicine for a small amount of money, even though it had failed in earlier tests. Ramaswamy was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine in 2015. He said his company would be very successful in the medicine industry.
Axovant's value grew quickly after it went public, meaning its shares could be bought and sold by anyone. However, in September 2017, the medicine failed in a large study. The company's value dropped sharply, and it lost 75% of its value in one day. Ramaswamy himself didn't lose as much because of how his investments were set up. The company stopped working on that medicine.
In 2017, Roivant partnered with a Chinese company to form Sinovant, focusing on the Asian market. In 2019, Roivant sold its shares in five of its smaller companies, and Ramaswamy made $175 million from this sale.
Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant Sciences in January 2021. He left his role as chairman in February 2023 to focus on his presidential campaign. He still owns a part of Roivant, which has never made a profit since it started.
Roivant Social Ventures
In 2020, while Ramaswamy was CEO, Roivant Sciences started a non-profit group called Roivant Social Ventures (RSV). This group worked on projects that aimed to improve health and diversity in the medicine industry. This is interesting because Ramaswamy's presidential campaign later focused on opposing similar corporate initiatives.
Strive Asset Management
In early 2022, Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management with a high school friend. This company raised about $20 million from investors, including famous people like Peter Thiel.
Strive calls itself "anti-woke" and "anti-ESG." Ramaswamy believes that big investment companies mix business with politics, which hurts their investors. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which are factors some investors consider.
Ramaswamy has spoken out against ESG, saying that companies should only focus on making money for their shareholders. He wrote books about these ideas, including Woke, Inc. and Nation of Victims.
Strive's main fund, called DRLL, started in 2022. It focuses on energy companies and aims to push them to produce more oil and natural gas without worrying about political or environmental goals.
Ramaswamy was the executive chairman of Strive before he left in February 2023 to focus on his presidential campaign.
Other Business Activities
In 2020, Ramaswamy also helped start Chapter Medicare, a platform that helps people understand their Medicare options. He also served on Ohio's team for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May 2024, Ramaswamy bought a large share of BuzzFeed, a well-known media company. He then suggested that BuzzFeed should hire conservative commentators and new directors. People think this could change BuzzFeed's content a lot.
His Political Journey
Early Steps in Politics
Ramaswamy has said he voted for a Libertarian Party candidate in 2004 but didn't vote in the presidential elections in 2008, 2012, or 2016. He described himself as not very interested in politics during those years. He supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election. In 2021, he registered as an "unaffiliated" voter in Ohio but said he was a Republican.
Ramaswamy has given money to both Democratic and Republican politicians. He considered running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022.
Department of Government Efficiency
After his presidential campaign, in November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Ramaswamy and businessman Elon Musk would lead a new group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Ramaswamy left DOGE in January 2025 to possibly run for governor of Ohio in 2026.
2024 Presidential Campaign
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On February 21, 2023, Ramaswamy announced on TV that he was running for the Republican nomination for president. He shared his income tax returns for 20 years and asked other candidates to do the same. Most of his campaign money came from his own wealth. He loaned his campaign over $15 million.
During his campaign, Ramaswamy tried to connect with Christian voters, who are a big part of the Republican base. He said that the U.S. was founded on Christian values and that he believes in one God, even though he is Hindu.
Ramaswamy called himself an "unapologetic American nationalist." He often criticized other candidates but usually avoided directly criticizing Donald Trump.
In May 2023, Ramaswamy's campaign admitted that he had paid someone to change his Wikipedia page before he announced his campaign. They said the changes were to correct facts, not to hide anything. For example, some edits removed mentions of his scholarship from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship and his work with Ohio's COVID-19 team.
In January, after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses, Ramaswamy ended his campaign and supported Trump.
Campaign Suspension
For the rest of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Ramaswamy worked for the Trump campaign. He attended events and spoke on behalf of Trump.
His Political Ideas
If he had been elected president, Ramaswamy promised to make many changes using his presidential power. He said he would fire 75% of federal government workers. He also wanted to get rid of at least five federal agencies, including the Education Department and the FBI.
He suggested that all government employees should serve for only eight years. He also wanted to change the law that requires presidents to spend all the money Congress sets aside.
Ramaswamy also suggested raising the voting age to 25. This would mean changing the U.S. Constitution. He said people between 18 and 24 could vote only if they joined the military, worked as first responders, or passed a civics test. He supported making Election Day a national holiday but wanted to remove Juneteenth as a holiday.
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He also supported an inheritance tax and wanted to change how the Federal Reserve works.
Climate and Energy Views
Ramaswamy said he doesn't deny that climate change is happening. However, he called the "climate change agenda" a "hoax." He said that as president, he would stop any rules that require measuring carbon dioxide. He also opposed government help for electric cars.
His Personal Life
Ramaswamy's wife, Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy, is a doctor and surgeon. They met at Yale University, where he was studying law and she was studying medicine. They got married in 2015 and have two sons. Ramaswamy also has a younger brother, Shankar, who worked with him at one of his companies.
Ramaswamy is a Hindu and believes in one God. His relatives say he speaks Tamil fluently and understands Malayalam, both languages from India. He is a vegetarian and believes it's wrong to kill animals for food. His parents say he tries to understand both Eastern and Western cultures.
In 2023, Ramaswamy's campaign advisor said he was worth over $1 billion. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at over $950 million. He has lived in Manhattan and owns a house in Columbus, Ohio.
Images for kids
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Ramaswamy in 2024
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Ramaswamy speaking in 2017
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Ramaswamy talking with people in Iowa
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Ramaswamy at a UFC fight in November 2024, with President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk
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Ramaswamy in West Palm Beach, Florida
See also
In Spanish: Vivek Ramaswamy para niños
