EssilorLuxottica founder’s son quits management roles after reported rift with CEO

By Elisa Anzolin

MILAN, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, the son of EssilorLuxottica’s late founder, is stepping down from management roles at the eyewear giant, the company said on Tuesday, after reported tensions with Chief Executive Francesco Milleri.

EssilorLuxottica shares were down 0.8% by 1320 GMT.

Relations between Del Vecchio and Milleri, long considered close, appeared to have cooled in June after Del Vecchio failed to buy out two of his siblings’ stakes in the family holding company and complained that Delfin’s board had been uncooperative.

The family holding company Delfin, chaired by Milleri, has a 32.4% stake in EssilorLuxottica.

EssilorLuxottica’s statement that Del Vecchio was quitting as chairman of the Ray-Ban brand and as chief strategy officer, confirmed a report by Italian financial daily MF-Milano Finanza, which said he would leave at the end of August.

Del Vecchio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

According to MF, Del Vecchio criticised the management style at EssilorLuxottica as distant and impersonal in his resignation letter.  

Del Vecchio said he would remain an active shareholder through Delfin, in which he holds a 12.5% stake, adding that he would continue to defend EssilorLuxottica’s independence, long-term growth and stable ownership structure.

Analysts at broker Equita said a clearer separation between ownership and management could be appropriate but they questioned the implications of an apparently weakened relationship between Del Vecchio and Milleri.

Del Vecchio’s half-brother and fellow Delfin shareholder, Rocco Basilico, resigned from EssilorLuxottica last year.

“We express our gratitude for his contribution to the group’s growth and the realisation of the strategic vision championed by his father. We wish him equal success in his new venture,” an EssilorLuxottica spokesperson said, referring to a personal investment vehicle set up by Del Vecchio in 2022.

(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Francesca Piscioneri, editing by Louise Heavens, Crispian Balmer and Barbara Lewis)