Plus: How This Hollywood Producer Turned Brad Pitt Into A $40 Million ‘F1’ Ad |
Good morning,
As Tesla grapples with a sales crisis, Elon Musk has fired one of its top executives. Musk removed Omead Afshar, the EV maker’s head of operations in North America and Europe, following the news that vehicle sales dropped for the fifth consecutive month in Europe, and analysts expect its worldwide EV deliveries to decline at least 10%. With Musk’s role at DOGE and support of President Donald Trump weighing on the brand, the company needs to improve its lineup to compete with growing rivals. Instead, Musk is betting the firm’s future on robotaxis, having launched a pilot version of the service in Austin earlier this week.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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Jerome Powell still has almost a year left in his stint as Federal Reserve Chairman, but President Donald Trump already appears to be closing in on announcing his replacement, as he has attacked Powell for not lowering interest rates. Trump has discussed naming a successor by September or even sooner, the Wall Street Journal reported, even as Powell himself—who was appointed by Trump during his first term—was named only three months before taking over back in 2018.
The Senate parliamentarian threw a wrench in the GOP’s plans to pass President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” by July 4, as she ruled Senate Republicans can’t fast-track some of the Medicaid cuts included in the House version. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, responsible for interpreting Senate rules and procedure, ruled that the changes were outside the scope of fiscal policy, meaning they can’t be passed via the reconciliation process that allows for a simple majority vote, rather than the typical 60 votes.
MORE: A vote on the Senate’s version of the bill could come as early as this week, but before it can head to Trump’s desk, both Houses must pass the exact same legislation. And while Dave Camp, former Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, noted recently in a webinar for Forbes members that historically, “the rule of thumb is the House has to accept what the Senate can pass,” thin margins in the House make that tenuous. |
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| For the past three years, Apple has been selling F1 as a can’t-miss summer blockbuster set in the high-octane world of Formula 1, with the prestige of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski and star Brad Pitt. But for David Leener, the producer in charge of the movie’s product placement, his sales pitch was far simpler—turning one of the world’s highest-paid actors into a human billboard. For significant portions of the film, Pitt’s character wears fire suits, helmets and other apparel adorned with more than a dozen logos for brands, including Mercedes, IWC, Geico, EA Sports and Expensify, each of which also have branding on the fictional APXGP team’s car and paid millions for the privilege. Leener, a pioneer of brand integrations in movies for nearly 30 years, says he brought in more sponsor money for F1 than any film in his career—including Top Gun: Maverick, the two National Treasure pictures and several Transformer movies—by far. Forbes estimates Leener’s sponsorships for F1 have brought in at least $40 million, a significant part of a production budget that may be as high as $300 million. Leener may be very good at his job, but sponsorship in Formula One and product placement in the F1 movie are fundamentally different propositions. To get your company’s logo in on the front wing of an actual F1 car would cost at least $5 million per year, according to The Race Media founder and CEO Andrew Van de Burgt, while title sponsorships range from $30 million at the lowest end to $100 million per year for the most popular teams. |
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| Movie sponsorship is clearly the cheaper of the two options, but in a racing movie those seconds can add up quickly. And, unlike in, say, a Marvel movie, corporate branding is already so deeply ingrained in the culture of F1 that seeing cars and driver apparel covered in logos adds to a movie’s authenticity rather than distracting from it. |
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President Donald Trump’s sweeping policy bill includes a major overhaul of student loans, like imposing lifetime borrowing limits and axing most repayment plans, in order to fund tax cuts. The specifics are still in flux, and the parliamentarian also struck down some student loan proposals, but advocates have argued the changes will drive more students to take out private loans.
Federal prosecutors want to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he is released from a Tennessee jail and before his trial on human smuggling charges. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” in March before being returned to the U.S., are pushing to return him to his home state of Maryland, but Justice Department prosecutors told a judge that they want him deported to a “third country.” |
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| After nearly four decades, Anna Wintour will step down as editor-in-chief of Vogue’s U.S. edition, though she will continue in her roles as parent company Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and as Vogue’s global editorial director. Wintour took the reins of U.S. Vogue in 1988, and has been credited for reviving the magazine’s appeal in the face of competition, plus she co-chaired the annual Met Gala. |
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More than 316 million | The number of pre-rolls that Americans lit up in 2024 | |
| 15% | The share pre-rolls represent of the entire legal market | |
| 80% | The share of cannabis users who consume multiple times daily |
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| Most of us will make difficult career decisions at some point, whether it’s to accept a promotion or leave a company. First, dispel the myth that you must be 100% sure about a choice—you can feel good about it even with 80% confidence. In order to reach that point of certainty, try listing the “known unknowns” you’d like to learn or experience before making the choice, and work through as many of them as possible. |
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