People

Julian Jakobi

Jakobi studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University from where he graduated in 1972. He spent the next five years training as an accountant with KPMG and qualified in 1977. He then joined IMG and looked after the business empires of a variety of sporting figures, notably tennis players Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander, golfers Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer and racing drivers Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart and Michael Schumacher. He also worked with conductor George Solti and fashion magnate Ralph Lauren. He moved to Monaco and became head of IMG's office, later becoming head of international clients and running IMG's motor sport division.In 1992 he left IMG to become Ayrton Senna's manager and began to set up the Ayrton Senna Licensing operation through his London-based FJ Associates. There was even talk of a Senna Formula 1 team.After Senna was killed in Imola, Jakobi ran the Ayrton Senna Foundation, which was funded largely by sales of Senna-branded goods. He tried to revive plans of a Senna F1 team but these did not get off the ground and in 1997 he joined forces with Craig Pollock to establish the Stellar Management Group, which includes a variety of companies which manage drivers such as Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti, Jean-Christophe Boullion and others, including motorcycle racer Max Biaggi, and the commercial affairs of Alain Prost. The group also looks after merchandising for Villeneuve, Prost Grand Prix and others.The arrival of British American Tobacco was an opportunity for Pollock and Jakobi to build a new racing team and as a result Jakobi became Corporate Director of British American Racing, looking after all legal aspects, all contracts, insurances and business dealings of the company. This did not last long, however, and Pollock and Jakobi split in August 1998, Julian keeping Stellar Management. In May 1999 Stellar was merged with CSS Promotions to form CSS Stellar plc, a sports promotion and marketing agency. In addition to drivers, Jakobi has interests in football, tennis, golf and entertainment while maintaining a close interest in the activities of Prost Grand Prix.