Natalie Massenet, founder and executive chairperson of luxury fashion online retailer Net-A-Porter has resigned just weeks before the completion of a multi-billion dollar merger with Italian rival Yoox SpA. Massenet’s decision was announced shortly after news revealed that the merger had received full anti-trust clearance, thus paving the way for the deal to be finalised by October.
[S]ome believe that differences with the Yoox founder and CEO Federico Marchetti were behind [Massenet’s] resignation
Massenet was due to be executive chairperson of the joint company, ‘Yoox Net-A-Porter Group’, which is estimated to have a combined worth of over $2.5bn. Despite a statement by Massenet claiming that she wishes to seek new opportunities, some believe that differences with the Yoox founder and CEO Federico Marchetti were behind her resignation. Consequently, Massenet has sold $153m of her shares in Net-A-Porter.
A former journalist for Tatler, Massenet established the luxury retail website from her Chelsea apartment in 2000. Net-A-Porter quickly rose to compete with the biggest retailers in the market and solidify the status of its founder as an icon in the fashion world. Massenet then sold a stake of the company to Swiss luxury goods group Richemont for £50m in 2010.
Details of the proposed merger were first publicised in March after Richemont had struck a deal to sell Net-A-Porter to Yoox for $1.6bn in return for 50 percent in the share capital of the combined company. An independent arbiter has since given Net-A-Porter a higher valuation, which could have been another source of tension for Massenet.
A press release published by Yoox on September 2 revealed that Massenet would not serve as a member of the board of directors of the combined group. Despite the unexpected setback, the merger is set to continue – with Marchetti taking the role of executive chairperson instead.
According to Bloomberg, Yoox shares have dropped by 1.6 percent to €26.12 following Massenet’s announcement.