The Italian billionaire and scion of a family with interests in finance to fashion gives up DJ career and joins banking.
The many images circulating of Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon at a DJ console have done more than endear the investment bank to a hipper generation – they have inspired copycats. A 38-year old Italian billionaire, Ernesto Von Furstenberg Fassio, says he was inspired by the maverick Goldman Sachs chief to embrace his passion for music whilst switching to a more conventional career in banking.
Fassio is scion to a fortune invested through a holding, La Scogliera, that amongst other assets controls the Italian bank Banca IFIS listed in Venice. «Until a few years ago, the most important thing in my life was music, house music, and club culture,» Fassio said in a recent «Bloomberg» interview, and in 2011 he and a friend became a DJ duo, eventually working at the Pacha disco on the Spanish island of Ibiza.
More recently, he has taken over the reins of the bank, displacing long-term CEO Giovanni Bossi who will not be reappointed after 24 years in the role.
Related to Fiat, inspired by Goldman Sachs
A grandson of Clara Agnelli, sister of Fiat family patriarch Giovanni Agnelli, Fassio played on Italy’s national golf team with the Molinari brothers, both successful pros now. Though he graduated with a law degree and a Master’s in accounting and auditing, he initially took a path away from his family roots in banking.
«David Solomon is a big source of inspiration, even if I can’t compare to him as a banker,» Fassio has said publicly. «When the Italian press published a profile of Solomon, my mother told me it’s fortunate someone like that has the same passion as me, it means I don’t have to hide it – even if I’m a banker.»
