Wilbur Ross was a banker known for acquiring and restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications, and textiles, later selling them for a profit after operations improved, a record that had earned him the moniker "King of Bankruptcy".
60 Facts About Wilbur Ross
2.
Wilbur Ross has been chairman or lead director of more than 100 companies operating in more than 20 countries.
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On November 30,2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Wilbur Ross to become the US Secretary of Commerce.
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Wilbur Ross was sworn into office on February 28,2017; at age 79, he was the oldest first-time Cabinet appointee in US history.
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Wilbur Ross was born on November 28,1937, in Weehawken, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby North Bergen, New Jersey.
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Wilbur Ross's father, Wilbur Louis Ross, was a lawyer who later became a judge, and his mother, Agnes, of Irish descent, was valedictorian at Sacred Heart Academy in Hoboken and taught third grade in North Bergen for 40 years.
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Wilbur Ross attended Xavier High School, a Catholic school, and college-preparatory school in Manhattan.
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Wilbur Ross ran track and was captain of the rifle team.
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At Yale, Wilbur Ross edited one of the literary magazines and worked at the radio station.
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Wilbur Ross enrolled in an English course that required writing a thousand words by 10 am every day; after two weeks, he ran out of things to write about and dropped the course.
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Wilbur Ross first agreed to buy the assets of bankrupt Ling-Temco-Vought for $325 million, paying $11 per ton of capacity when other firms were trading for $200 per ton of capacity.
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Wilbur Ross had support from the United Steelworkers, negotiating a deal to save some jobs.
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Wilbur Ross personally made a $260 million profit on his $3 million investment and gained a seat on the board of directors of Mittal Steel.
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In October 2006, Wilbur Ross had International Textile Group acquire Safety Components International.
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Miners and their families accused Wilbur Ross of ignoring safety violations.
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In February 2017, Forbes reported that Wilbur Ross has a net worth of $2.5 billion.
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Wilbur Ross had self-reported the issue and did not admit any liability.
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Wilbur Ross took office at the age of 79, making him the oldest first-time Cabinet appointee in US history.
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In December 2016, after being designated by Trump as his nominee to lead the Commerce Department, Wilbur Ross said in a speech to Cypriot financiers that Brexit was a "God-given opportunity" for other countries, such as Ireland and Germany, to draw business away from the United Kingdom's financial services industry.
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In 2017, Wilbur Ross said that a trade deal with the UK was a low priority for the Trump administration; however, he outlined possible terms.
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In September 2018, Wilbur Ross said that the tariffs are meant to "modify China's behavior".
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In November 2019, Wilbur Ross indicated that the Trump administration might now impose tariffs on imports of automobiles from the EU; in January 2020 Wilbur Ross said that the Trump administration might still impose tariffs on European cars despite ongoing trade talks.
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Also in January 2020, Wilbur Ross threatened retaliation if the EU adopted a proposed carbon tax, comparing it to a proposed EU digital services tax, to which the administration has threatened tariffs in response.
24.
In July 2019, Wilbur Ross stated that the United States will keep Huawei on its blacklist but will allow licensed sales.
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In May 2017, Wilbur Ross accompanied Trump on his first foreign visit, to Saudi Arabia, where Wilbur Ross generated controversy after heralding the president's visit as a success due to a lack of protests, unaware that the Saudis had banned public protest and demonstrations since 2011.
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Wilbur Ross failed to disclose a lawsuit from ex-business partner David Storper on his financial disclosure forms.
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Wilbur Ross settled the lawsuit for $9 million after being subpoenaed for information that he did not want to disclose.
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Wilbur Ross was confirmed by the Senate in February 2017 and he agreed to sell his stocks before the end of May 2017.
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In July 2018, it was reported that Wilbur Ross divested from his stock in Invesco, originally worth between $10 million and $50 million, in December 2017.
30.
Wilbur Ross said that he "mistakenly believed that all [his] previously held Invesco stock was sold".
31.
On July 13,2018, after he received a letter from the government's top ethics watchdog warning of "potential for a serious criminal violation", Wilbur Ross announced that he will sell all his remaining stock.
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In October 2018, documents showed that Wilbur Ross had participated in a meeting with executives from Chevron Corporation where they discussed oil and gas developments, tax reform and trade issues.
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Wilbur Ross's wife owned a stake in Chevron worth at least $250,000 at the time.
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In October 2020, it was reported that Wilbur Ross had continued to serve on the board of a Chinese joint venture until January 2019 ; at the same time, the United States and China were engaged in a trade war.
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In June 2018, it was revealed that Wilbur Ross shorted stock after he knew of an upcoming report with information that would adversely affect the company but before the story was published.
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Wilbur Ross later closed out the position at a substantial profit after the story was published.
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Wilbur Ross had shorted two additional stocks in June 2018 and two additional stocks in July 2018.
38.
US federal judge Jesse M Furman ruled against the Department of Justice and Wilbur Ross, stating that if the trial is delayed the appeals process may not be done by summer 2019, the printing deadline of the census.
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Furman blocked the census question proposal on January 15,2019, saying Wilbur Ross had violated a "veritable smorgasbord" of federal rules, asserting Wilbur Ross and his aides made false or misleading statements under oath and that he sought to add the question to the Census based on a pretext.
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Specifically, Wilbur Ross had testified under oath that the addition of the question was prompted by DOJ when in fact he had made the request via the Hofeller letter he had transmitted.
41.
In November 2017, leaked documents known as the Paradise Papers showed that, during his confirmation hearings, Wilbur Ross had failed to clearly disclose a financial interest in Navigator Gas, a shipping company which transports petrochemicals for Russian gas and petrochemicals company Sibur.
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Wilbur Ross had failed to clearly disclose ties to Russian interests during his confirmation hearings.
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Also, Wilbur Ross allegedly tends to fall asleep in meetings to the extent that senior staffers have avoided putting him in critical meetings where he could fall asleep.
44.
In 1999, Wilbur Ross was awarded the Order of Industrial Service Merit medal by South Korean president Kim Dae Jung for his assistance during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
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Wilbur Ross was awarded the American Irish Historical Society Gold Medal in 2014 in recognition of his work in Ireland and Irish-American causes.
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Wilbur Ross is a past director of the Turnaround Management Association and member of its hall of fame.
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Wilbur Ross served on the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution.
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Wilbur Ross is on the board of advisors of Yale School of Management and is a former board member of the Yale University Art Gallery.
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Wilbur Ross served as International Counsel Member of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, and President of the American Friends of the Rene Magritte Museum in Brussels.
50.
Wilbur Ross has been on the board of directors of Navigator Gas since March 2012.
51.
Wilbur Ross served under President Bill Clinton on the board of the US Russia Investment Fund.
52.
Since at least 2011, Wilbur Ross has donated to Republican candidates and organizations.
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Wilbur Ross helped push to privatize the city's public broadcasting stations and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and worked to sell off empty land lots to businesses.
54.
In 1995, Wilbur Ross married his second wife, Lieutenant Governor of New York Betsy McCaughey.
55.
On October 9,2004, Wilbur Ross married his third wife, Hilary Geary Wilbur Ross, a society writer for Quest magazine.
56.
In December 2016, while his Manhattan penthouse apartment at The Briarcliffe was on the market for $21 million, Wilbur Ross purchased a 10,000 square foot house in the Massachusetts Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC, from Adrienne Arsht for $10,750,000.
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Wilbur Ross owns two multimillion-dollar properties in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Wilbur Ross owns an art collection valued at $150 million that includes pieces ranging from Western surrealists to contemporary Eastern sculptures.
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Wilbur Ross owns 25 works by Rene Magritte, valued at $100 million, including some of the artist's most valuable paintings, such as The Pilgrim.
60.
Wilbur Ross donated $10 million for the construction of the new campus of Yale School of Management.