The F1 Champion Who Became an Elon Musk-Worshipping Tech Investor
Nico Rosberg is immersing himself—and some of his fortune—in the world of “impact technologies.”
Elon Musk and Warren Buffett might seem an unlikely pair, given the former’s unpredictability and the latter’s midwestern sobriety. But books featuring the chairmen of Tesla Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are on the reading list of 2016 Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg. Since retiring after his big win, the son of Finnish racing legend Keke Rosberg has embarked on a crash course in world-changing technologies, and how to invest in them.
Rosberg, who turned 33 last week, remains active in the racing world and on his popular YouTube vlog, but the intense focus he developed as a driver is now directed at startups. While he cites Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor as his guide for investing wisdom, his portfolio ventures far afield to companies such as Lyft, What3words and Musk’s SpaceX.
The study of “impact technologies,” which Rosberg defines as technologies that will “change the world for the better without taking anything away from the present,” has led him to explore companies around the globe, from Silicon Valley to China. Rosberg spoke about his unusual transition from ultimate gearhead to enlightened investor at a Young Successors Program recently held by UBS Group AG in New York for the adult children of the bank’s ultra-wealthy clients. Bloomberg caught up with him afterwards. Comments have been edited and condensed.