Topline
President-elect Donald Trump is on track to break the record he set in 2016 for appointing the wealthiest cabinet in history, tapping these billionaires for his next administration.
Elon Musk speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as they watch the launch of the sixth test … [+]
Getty ImagesKey Facts
Elon Musk: The Tesla and SpaceX founder has become one of Trump’s closest confidants in recent months and has been tapped, alongside fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory board that will work to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies,” according to Trump (Forbes valuation: $430.9 billion).
Tilman Fertitta: The owner of the Houston Rockets and Landry’s restaurant and entertainment company, Fertitta is Trump’s pick for ambassador to Italy (Forbes valuation: $10.4 billion).
Warren Stephens: Trump’s choice for U.K. ambassador, a role that requires Senate confirmation, Stephens is a major Trump donor who heads the Arkansas-based investment bank Stephens Inc., which was founded by his uncle nearly a century ago and is known for its role in Walmart’s 1970 initial public offering (Forbes valuation: $3.4 billion).
Linda McMahon: The former WWE CEO is Trump’s pick for Education secretary, pending Senate approval; she co-chaired his transition team alongside fellow billionaire Howard Lutnick and served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term before chairing the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that raised millions to elect Trump (McMahon is married to former WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, who is worth an estimated $3 billion).
Jared Isaacman: Tapped by Trump as administrator of NASA, Isaacman is the founder and CEO of the Pennsylvania-based processing firm Shift4 Payments who founded the defense firm Draken International in 2011 and sold it to Blackstone in 2019 for a reported nine-figure sum (Forbes valuation: $1.8 billion).
Howard Lutnick: Co-chair of Trump’s transition team, the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO is Trump’s pick for commerce secretary (which also requires Senate approval) and is well-known for rebuilding the financial services firm where he’s spent his entire career after the company lost 658 employees in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack (Forbes valuation: $1.5 billion).
Kelly Loeffler: The former Georgia GOP senator, chosen by Trump to lead the Small Business Administration, is married to billionaire Intercontinental Exchange founder Jeff Sprecher, worth an estimated $1.1 billion.
Vivek Ramaswamy: A biotech entrepreneur and one of the youngest billionaires in the country, Ramaswamy built his wealth through Roivant Sciences, a company he founded nearly a decade ago that went public in 2021 and successfully brought several drugs to market, before he launched a bid for the presidency (Forbes valuation: $1 billion).
Tangent
Trump has selected several other wealthy (but not billionaire) individuals to serve in his administration. John Phelan, founder of MSD Capital, was picked for secretary of the Navy, and Charles Kushner, father-in-law to Ivanka Trump and founder of Kushner Companies real estate firm, was chosen for ambassador to France. Massad Boulos—father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump and Trump’s pick for senior Middle East advisor—has been widely cast as a major business titan, though The New York Times reports he runs a truck dealership in Nigeria worth about $865,000.
Key Background
Trump, a billionaire himself with an estimated net worth of $6.1 billion, has quickly filled out his Cabinet since he won the election, gravitating toward wealthy appointees and Wall Street execs as he did during his first term, when historians said his Cabinet was the wealthiest in history. The news cycle surrounding Trump’s Cabinet picks has been dominated by some of his more controversial nominees, including his initial attorney general pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who bowed out of the process amid a ballooning sexual misconduct scandal (Gaetz has denied the allegations). Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is also on shaky footing after a 2017 sexual assault allegation against him was made public and, more recently, accusations of alcohol abuse, all of which he’s denied.
Further Reading
Trump’s Cabinet And Key Jobs: Paul Atkins Picked For SEC Chief, Billionaire Jared Isaacman For NASA (Forbes)
Trumpiverse: Ranking Trump’s Inner Circle (Forbes)
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