Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Former CEO sounds alarm on 'woke' capitalism, says hypocrisy is rampant

Former CEO sounds alarm on 'woke' capitalism, says hypocrisy is rampant

Former Roivant Sciences exec Vivek Ramaswamy determined to counteract what he says is harmful corporate hypocrisy

After leaving his job as a CEO at Roivant Sciences, author Vivek Ramaswamy is determined to counteract what he says is harmful hypocrisy on the part of "woke" corporations.

"One of the things I've learned is the unspoken truth about 21st Century modern American capitalism … [is] you pretend like you care about something other than profit and power precisely to gain more of each," Ramaswamy told FOX Business on Thursday.

Book cover of Woke Inc. by Vivek Ramaswamy


A Harvard and Yale grad with plenty of Wall Street experience, Ramaswamy says he's spent a fair amount of time rubbing shoulders with the elite. His new book, "Woke, Inc.," highlights how the highest echelons of American capitalism have attempted to "virtue signal" while bypassing legitimate opportunities to be virtuous.

Businesses, he contends, fool themselves into believing they're acting righteously.

"At some point, when virtue signaling is your priority, signaling your virtue becomes more important than virtue itself," he said. "And I think that is the poison at the heart of this game. … In the name of being virtuous, these companies have sacrificed true virtue."

Ramaswamy points, for example, to Unilever and its controversy with workers in Kenya. "Woke, Inc." also touches on Wall Street's "fearless girl" statue – an icon of the 2010s that signified the fight for women's empowerment in business.

He writes: "It was apparently a challenge for Wall Street to promote gender diversity: the placard at Fearless Girl’s feet said ‘Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.’ Feminists cheered. The trick? ‘SHE’ referred not only to Fearless Girl, but to the NASDAQ-listed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that her commissioners, State Street Global Advisors, wanted people to buy. State Street was battling a lawsuit from female employees saying it paid them less than their male peers in the firm. Instead of paying women equally, State Street made a statue for them. Fearless Girl was a line item in an advertising budget.

"But it’s not enough to spend money on a PR trick. No capitalist would applaud yet. You have to bring the money back. For its final act, its Prestige, State Street is suing the statue’s creator, Kristen Visbal, saying that by making three unauthorized reproductions of Fearless Girl Visbal damaged State Street’s global campaign in support of female leadership and gender diversity. A master class on the trick itself."

In 2017, the firm agreed to a $5 million settlement in a lawsuit regarding pay discrimination.

A spokesperson for the company reportedly said it has "engaged with hundreds of companies on the importance of diversity, voted against directors over 1,000 times for lack of board gender diversity, and been a vocal proponent of the value of diversity in writing and speech."

In reference to the controversy over replicas, the spokesperson said: "While we are very proud to share Fearless Girl’s message with the world, given the time, energy and resources we have invested in the campaign we naturally must be very protective of how Fearless Girl is used by others, particularly for commercial purposes."

Ramaswamy's book comes at a time of challenge for both conservatives and liberals, who might ask themselves: "Is corporate power justified in silencing certain views?"

Ramaswamy wants his book to be a catalyst in creating a better culture for free speech. Within his vision, Ramaswamy favors certain policy and legal changes that would purportedly counter Big Business' censorship. For example, he's proposed making political speech and political belief a protected class, like race, sex, and religion are.

"Cancel culture is the use of force to replace free speech and open debate as the mechanism for settling political questions," Ramaswamy told FOX Business. He added that "part of the answer to that is reviving free speech in our country" both culturally and under the First Amendment.

Without change, he indicated, businesses will continue to foster "a crisis of institutional mistrust where people no longer believe what institutions and important institutions are telling them."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
×