Nico Rosberg Draws on Racing Experience as a Venture Fund Investor
Nico Rosberg spent 10 years as a Formula One racing driver, a sport considered among the most physically and mentally demanding in the world. He won the circuit's World Championship in 2016 and promptly retired at age 31.
That same year, the German driver founded Rosberg Ventures, a venture-capital firm in Monte Carlo, Monaco, that invests the wealth of high-net-worth European families in other venture managers' funds. Rosberg relies partly on his celebrity to get a seat at the table of the most successful managers and back what he calls 'generational' companies.
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21 minutes ago
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Formula 1 Pro Lewis Hamilton Was 'Impressed' by Brad Pitt's Natural Race Car Driving Skills on 'F1' (Exclusive)
F1 director Joseph Kosinski revealed to PEOPLE that Formula One pro Lewis Hamilton was "impressed" by Brad Pitt's natural driving talent Of Pitt and costar Damson Idris, Kosinski adds, "They both trained for four months" F1 revs into theaters Friday, June 27Brad Pitt's driving skills might just live up to some of the best in Formula One, as far as Lewis Hamilton is concerned. In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE surrounding their new movie F1, director Joseph Kosinksi says that Formula One pro Hamilton, 40 — who co-produced and also appears in the sports drama — praised star Pitt, 61, for his hands-on approach to his stunts. "I had Lewis Hamilton drive with Brad right at the beginning to kind of see his level of skill," says Kosinski, 51. "And Lewis was really impressed that Brad kind of had that talent right out of the gate." Of Pitt and costar Damson Idris, the director adds, "They both trained for four months — really intense training to get up to the level they needed to shoot this movie." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Pitt leads F1 as both a co-producer and its star, playing retired racer Sonny Hayes who returns to Formula One in a fictional team. Idris, 33, costars as Joshua Pierce, Sonny's rookie teammate. The two men — who have different approaches — immediately clash. Indeed, according to the film's official synopsis, Idris' character is "intent on setting his own pace." The Ehren Kruger-written film, made in collaboration with real-life F1 athletes like producer Hamilton, also stars Kerry Condon, Kim Bodnia, Javier Bardem, Tobias Menzies and Sarah Niles. Asked about whether he was concerned for Pitt's safety when they began filming, Kosinski tells PEOPLE that the filmmakers "didn't just hope for the best," as they "knew he was a skilled driver." "We had the best drivers in the world around him, training him. He had been on the simulator. So we did everything the right way. We were in [a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]-approved car — this wasn't a movie car. This is a real race car with the safety cell and everything," he explains. "So we were doing it the right way." "But still, yeah, there's a point where you're like, 'This is really intense,' " Kosinski adds. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! The director praises Idris and Pitt as "natural athletes," crediting the Pitt's "years of riding motorcycles" for giving him "a feel for the car" in F1. As for the Oscar winner's willingness to get behind the wheel, Kosinski jokes they "had to tear him out of" the car once filming wrapped. "The saddest day for Brad was when we said, 'It's a wrap,' and he had to climb out of the car," the filmmaker tells PEOPLE. "He just loved it. [Brad and Damson] both had the best time." F1 revs into theaters Friday, June 27. For more about F1, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. Read the original article on People
31 minutes ago
Reeling from Trump rebukes, Europe weighs deeper ties with China
BARCELONA, Spain -- Jilted, betrayed, dumped, or defiant. It's hard to describe the European Union after relentless attacks from its once-dependable ally, the United States. The threat from Donald Trump's second administration against Greenland, its sweeping tariff plans and courtship of Moscow have firmed up some European leaders' vows to reduce their reliance on America. That has not gone unnoticed in another global power. China hopes for a Europe detached from the U.S. and is sensing an opportunity now to divide the West. For the past several years, the EU moved in lockstep with Washington to levy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and sanction Chinese officials accused of rights violations. Now, locked in a trade war with Washington that may be prolonged, Beijing sees the 27-nation bloc as a desirable partner in blunting the impact from Trump's tariffs and to maintain its strong global position. But for EU leaders, meeting Thursday in Brussels to discuss China among a host of regional and global issues, managing ties with Beijing is no easy matter. An upcoming summit in China in July to mark 50 years of ties might offer the first hint of new consensus between these two global behemoths. The EU-China economic ties are hefty: bilateral trade is estimated at 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) per day. China is the EU's second largest trading partner in goods, after the United States. Both China and the EU believe it is in their interest to keep their trade ties stable for the sake of the global economy, and they share certain climate goals. Like the U.S., Europe runs a massive trade deficit with China: around 300 billion euros last year. It relies heavily on China for critical minerals, which are also used to make magnets used in cars and appliances. As European companies are seeing declining profitability in China, Brussels is hoping Beijing will follow through on recent pledges, like one announced Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce, to ease restrictions on foreign business ventures. 'While other opened their market, China focused undercutting intellectual property protections, massive subsidies with the aim to dominate global manufacturing and supply chains,' said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 meeting in Canada. 'This is not market competition – it is distortion with intent." Now, Europe, already fretting over the trade deficit, worries that Trump's tariffs could divert even more Chinese goods to Europe, destabilizing markets across the continent. Such vulnerabilities could strengthen Beijing's negotiating position, said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a China analyst with the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank. 'China has built so many strategic dependencies that the EU is trapped in an asymmetric relationship,' she said, and Beijing could leverage them to 'get a deal in July" at the summit. Analysts don't expect a grand bargain at the summit, but China will likely demand the EU lift tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles or even reopen the bilateral trade treaty, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Either or both would send a powerful signal to Washington. But China's main goal is ensuring the EU remains an accessible and affluent market for goods that might not reach the U.S. because of Trump's tariff blitzkrieg. Despite a truce in the trade war, Chinese businesses are widening their global reach to be less dependent on the U.S. Regardless of any deal, the summit itself will be the message, said Noah Barkin, an analyst of Europe-China relations at the German Marshall Fund think tank. For the EU, the main goal would be for von der Leyen to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said. Whereas she was 'treated rather shabbily' on a 2023 trip to Beijing, Barkin said the Chinese this time will probably 'roll out the red carpet," keen to see 'pictures of Chinese and European leaders walking through gardens and sending a message of unity.' Sun Chenghao, head of the U.S.-EU program at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, expressed hope 'that the future of China-Europe relations can be more independent on both sides.' 'For Europe, that would mean shaping its China policy based on its own interests, rather than simply taking sides,' Sun told the German Marshall Fund in a podcast. 'And for China, this means building a more independent and nuanced approach to Europe.' 'It is precisely because most European decision-makers realize the necessity of strategic autonomy that they have made it clear that they must strengthen cooperation with China," said Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, to The Paper, a Shanghai-based news site. "Even if China and Europe have differences on the Ukraine issue, there is still room for expanding cooperation in areas beyond the differences.' China's deepening ties with its historic allies in Europe like Hungary and Greece stand alongside fears across the continent about its human rights record, espionage, trade policies, military buildup and support for Russia. European police arrested employees of the Chinese tech giant Huawei during an ongoing bribery investigation in Brussels. Czech intelligence services have claimed Beijing directed cyberattacks on its critical infrastructure. And the EU's criticisms of China's human rights violations remain unabated. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further disaffected Europe from China. Despite Beijing's claims of neutrality, Europe largely sees China as complicit in, if not covertly supporting Russia's war machine. The EU recently cancelled a high-level economic and trade dialogue with China, due to a lack of progress on trade disputes. It also has moved to restrict Chinese participation in EU medical devices procurement. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called out Spain for its courtship of China, warning that countries seeking to get closer to China would be 'cutting their own throat' because Chinese factories will be looking to dump goods that they can't ship to the U.S. By decoupling their positions on China, analysts say both Brussels and Washington have weaker hands dealing with Beijing. And that might hurt the U.S., which has vowed to prevail over China and retain its global dominance but, as many believe, needs help from its allies and partners. 'If we could just get Japan and the EU and the U.S. together on any issue, ... we could outweigh the Chinese at the negotiating table,' said Nick Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China in the Biden administration. 'President Trump, I think, because of his inattention to our allies and maybe even worse, his sometimes just acrimonious behaviors towards allies, has given away that leverage.' Joerg Wuttke, former president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China and now a partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, argued that the fundamentals underlining EU-China relations have not changed as long as China does not take genuine steps to open its market and that the EU remains 'geared towards' the U.S., though he described Washington as a 'major backdrop noise.' 'We are not allies. We are trading partners,' Wuttke said of EU and China. 'And, so from my point of view is, what is there to worry for the United States?'
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk reportedly fires Tesla's top sales exec
Omead Afshar, Tesla's vice president in charge of sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, has reportedly been fired by CEO Elon Musk, according to Forbes. It's not immediately known why Musk fired Afshar, who was one of his top lieutenants and closest confidants at the company. Afshar, Musk, and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Afshar's departure was first reported by Bloomberg News. Afshar was posting support for the limited rollout of Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, as recently as Tuesday. 'Absolutely historic day for Tesla,' he wrote on June 23 on X, the social media platform his former boss owns. 'Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!' Afshar's departure comes at a time when the company's sales growth has vanished. Tesla sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first annual drop since it started mass producing EVs more than a decade ago. Musk's involvement in U.S. politics has not helped, despite his recent pledge that he was leaving the Trump administration. Sales continued to struggle through the first half of 2025. The company's industry-leading profits fell 71% year-over-year in the first quarter. European sales fell nearly 28% percent year-over-year in May. Tesla will report global delivery figures for the second quarter next week, and financial results for the period in mid-July. Afshar was not a particularly public-facing executive at Tesla. He joined the company in 2017 and spent years working in the 'office of the CEO.' He took on increasing responsibilities ever since; Musk has previously credited Afshar with leading the construction of Tesla's massive factory in Austin, Texas. Not long after that, though, Afshar found himself in hot water. In 2022 he became a subject of an internal probe after he was allegedly involved in a plan to purchase special material for a glass building Musk reportedly wanted. Both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating those purchases in 2023. Afshar moved over to SpaceX during some of that time period and reportedly was involved with X for a while. Musk elevated him to the role of vice president in late 2024 after another top executive, Tom Zhu, moved back to China. Bloomberg News also reported Thursday that Tesla's director of HR for North America, Jenna Ferrua, is no longer with the company. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
