Behind the sleek sunglasses and effortless glamour inextricably linked with the Ray-Ban name lies a messy family feud that is anything but stylish.
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that → link → name
“My father gave us everything, but not love,” declared Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, one of the heirs to the family empire in a podcast interview with Italian rapper Fedez that invited comparisons with the TV drama Succession.
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that → give → drama
As well as the revelations about his relationship with his father, the eccentric 31-year-old billionaire also boasted of sleeping with more than 2000 women and owning two yachts, while joking that he had debts of around €1 billion ($1.6 billion).
But it is his increasingly public dispute with Francesco Milleri, the man his father entrusted with running Ray-Ban, the Paris and Milan-based group EssilorLuxottica, that could have the most profound consequences.
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that → boast → consequences
Leonardo Maria has accused the chief executive of losing his way, blaming him for a collapse in the company’s share price.
In an interview he said of Milleri: “When he was delivering results, I was his biggest supporter.”
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I → accuse → results
He also criticised the company’s lack of vision and said Milleri should be more concerned about the share-price slump.
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Milleri → criticise → slump
“The momentum from my father has run out,” he said.
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he → run → father
In his resignation letter, Leonardo Maria said: “This is not the Luxottica I grew up in.”
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I → say → letter
Milleri subsequently described the public disagreements as “useless and unfounded”.
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Milleri → describe → disagreements
Yet his attack on the boss chosen by his father, Leonardo Del Vecchio, is awkwardly timed.
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attack → choose → father
Shares in the world’s largest eyewear company surged around 15 per cent on Wednesday after better-than-expected results, strengthening Milleri’s position ahead of his reappointment next year.
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Shares → surge → reappointment
It is the latest twist in a bitter battle over a family fortune worth more than €55 billion ($88 billion), with eight heirs fighting over their inheritance while the business at its heart continues to thrive.
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business → fight → heart
“There is always some governance drama,” is the understated assessment of Piral Dadhania, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
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assessment → be → Markets
He recalls boardroom tensions under its founder, during its merger with French lens-maker Essilor in 2018 and after his death four years later.
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He → recall → death
During his podcast appearance, Leonardo Maria described growing up surrounded by private jets, chefs, nannies and bodyguards, and recalled being thrown out of the family home at 18 over a girlfriend and discussed his past drug use.
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Maria → describe → use
His romantic exploits were equally colourful: he boasted that the 2000 women he had slept with were mostly won over by singing Enrique Iglesias’s Hero.
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he → boast → Hero
It is a remarkable portrait of the gilded life of the son of the self-made entrepreneur who rose from a grim early life in a Milanese orphanage to become one of Italy’s richest men.
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who → make → men
Del Vecchio founded Luxottica in 1961, transforming a small spectacles workshop in Agordo, in the Veneto region of north-east Italy, into a global giant through acquisitions and licensing deals.
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Vecchio → found → acquisitions
The merger with France’s Essilor in 2018 created a business with brands including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Persol.
But his complicated personal life would prove harder to untangle after he died of pneumonia in 2022.
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he → create → 2022
Ownership of Delfin, the Luxembourg holding company that controls roughly a third of EssilorLuxottica, was divided into eight equal stakes.
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that → hold → stakes
His six children each inherited 12.5 per cent, alongside widow Nicoletta Zampillo and her son from a previous marriage, Rocco Basilico.
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children → inherit → marriage
Strict rules governing major decisions have since left the heirs struggling to agree on dividends, ownership and Delfin’s investments.
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rules → govern → dividends
Leonardo Maria attempted to buy the stakes of two siblings, Luca and Paola, for around €10 billion earlier this year, potentially tripling his holding to 37.5 per cent.
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Maria → attempt → cent
Milleri supported the plan, but Romolo Bardin, the Delfin chief executive, opposed the holding company’s involvement in financing it.
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Bardin → support → it
The proposal failed to win sufficient backing.
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proposal → fail → backing
Within months, Leonardo Maria had turned against Milleri.
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Maria → turn → Milleri
He resigned as EssilorLuxottica’s chief strategy officer and Ray-Ban chairman in August, complaining that management had grown distant from employees.
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management → resign → employees
“This is not the Luxottica I grew up in,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
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he → grow → letter
Milleri said in a recent interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica that he was “deeply sorry” about Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio’s departure from the company.
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he → say → company
“I tried to help him in every possible way, including during the complex transaction involving the purchase of Delfin shares,” Milleri said.
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Milleri → try → shares
“I understand his situation and hope it can be resolved soon.
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it → understand → situation
My affection for someone I have known since the day of his baptism cannot change, even during such an emotional period.”
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I → know → period
He also defended the company’s performance under his leadership, which added €3 billion in sales this year.
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which → defend → sales
“Twelve years ago, it was mainly an eyewear company generating €7 billion in revenue and employing 85,000 people,” he said.
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he → generate → people
“Today, we are approaching €30 billion in revenue, with 220,000 employees and activities that span eyewear, vision care, medical technology and hearing solutions.”
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that → approach → eyewear
As recently as March, he had publicly backed Milleri as his father’s chosen successor.
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he → back → successor
Leonardo Maria has spoken of promising to defend his father’s wishes as he stood by his coffin.
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he → speak → coffin
Yet it was his father who entrusted Milleri with running the business.
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who → entrust → business
Alfredo De Massis, a professor of family business at IMD Business School and the University of Chieti-Pescara, believes the contradiction reflects a classic struggle between heirs who want control and a professional manager appointed to exercise it.
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who → believe → it
Meanwhile, EssilorLuxottica’s fortunes on the stock market have taken a dramatic turn.
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fortunes → take → turn
Shares soared last year as investors became excited about its partnership with Facebook owner Meta, which is turning Ray-Ban sunglasses into AI-powered devices capable of taking photographs, answering questions and translating conversations.
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which → soar → conversations
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
