(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 22 - US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed businessman Tilman J. Fertitta as the new ambassador to Italy.
    Born in Galveston, Texas, the 57-year-old is the owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team.
    Fertitta, a businessman in the restaurant and hospitality sector, is the chair and chief executive officer of Fertitta Entertainment.
    His holdings include Landry's Inc., the NBA's Houston Rockets and the Golden Nugget casinos. He also starred in the reality show Billion Dollar Buyer on CNBC.
    In 2023, Forbes estimated his fortune to be worth about 8.4 billion dollars.
    Fortune ranked him in 260th position in its annual list of the world's richest people.
    Fertitta has Sicilian origins and his father Vic owned a fish restaurant. (ANSA).