As of January 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration includes an unprecedented number of billionaires in key positions, marking it as the wealthiest in modern U.S. history. Here are the 13 billionaires who have been nominated or appointed to top roles:
- Elon Musk: Serving as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, with a net worth exceeding $400 billion.
- Vivek Ramaswamy: Appointed as co-head alongside Musk, Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur and author, known for founding Roivant Sciences.
- Howard Lutnick: Nominated for Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a leading financial services firm.
- Linda McMahon: Selected as Secretary of Education, McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and has an extensive business background.
- Scott Bessent: Nominated for Secretary of the Treasury, Bessent is a prominent hedge fund manager and former chief investment officer for Soros Fund Management.
- Warren Stephens: Appointed as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Stephens is an investment banker and the head of Stephens Inc.
- Leandro Rizzuto Jr.: Nominated as Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Rizzuto is an executive at Conair, the family-owned small appliance company.
- Charles Kushner: Appointed as Ambassador to France, Kushner is a real estate developer and the father of Jared Kushner.
- Tom Barrack: Nominated as Ambassador to Turkey, Barrack is a real estate investor and the founder of Colony Capital.
- Jared Isaacman: Nominated to lead NASA, Isaacman is the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and a commercial astronaut.
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- Peter Thiel: Serving as a technology advisor, Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook.
- Stephen Schwarzman: Appointed as an economic advisor, Schwarzman is the CEO of Blackstone Group, a leading global investment firm.
- Sheldon Adelson: Serving as an advisor on trade and commerce, Adelson is a casino magnate and the founder of Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
The combined net worth of these individuals significantly exceeds that of any previous U.S. administration, reflecting President Trump’s preference for appointing successful business leaders to government roles.
During his inaugural address, the new president of the United States was refreshingly open about the fact that Washington is the hub of a continuously expanding empire which is ruled by billionaire plutocrats.
As Joe Lauria highlighted for Consortium News, President Donald Trump’s speech included references to the “manifest destiny” of America, saying that under his presidency the U.S. will consider itself a nation that “expands our territory.”
He waxed fondly about the settler-colonialist past which established the country at the expense of the people who were already living there, and vowed to take control of the Panama Canal.
Trump gave this speech to an audience where the wealthiest people on earth sat alongside his own cabinet in the best seats in the house. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were seen together in the crowd among the more official members of the incoming administration.
Israeli-American Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson, who according to Trump helped dictate U.S. policy toward Israel during his first term, was seen sitting among former President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, and the Clintons at the inauguration.
There will reportedly be no fewer than 13 billionaires with official roles in the new Trump administration.
