Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. is an American investor and the current United States Secretary of Commerce. On November 30, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Ross for that post. On February 27, 2017, the Senate confirmed him in a 72–27 vote. He was sworn into office on February 28, 2017.
Before he was appointed, Ross was a banker known for restructuring failed companies in industries such as: steel, coal, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles and who specialized in leveraged buyouts and distressed businesses. In February 2017, Forbes magazine reported that Ross has a net worth of $2.5 billion. However, financial disclosure forms Ross filed after his nomination for Secretary of Commerce showed less than $700 million in assets, and Forbes removed him from their billionaires list in November 2017. He is often called the "King of Bankruptcy" because of his record of buying bankrupt companies, primarily in the manufacturing and steel industries, and later selling them for a large profit after operations improve.In November 2017, leaked documents known as the Paradise Papers showed that Ross had failed to clearly disclose financial ties to Russian interests in his confirmation hearings.
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