Big fashion houses have been part of this world for a long time. Many of them were launched in the last century by designers and are still going strong in the 21st century. These fashion houses have been pivotal in designing and developing different fashion silhouettes over the decades. As many of them were founded a long time ago, and some even in the 19th century, the ownership of these companies has been passed on to various people over the years. This has also been the case for the fashion giant Gucci.
Gucci is an Italian luxury fashion house that was started by Guccio Gucci in 1921. The brand was founded in Florence, Tuscany. Gucci is known for its clothes, handbags, accessories, and footwear. The brand also makes cosmetics and perfumes but the licensing of these products is by Coty Inc. You would be shocked to know that the brand is not owned by the Gucci family. As of now, the fashion company is owned by a multinational corporation. Why does the family not own the company and who owns it right now?
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How Gucci Family Lost Ownership Of The Company?
The Gucci fashion company was started by Guccio Gucci in 1921 in Florence, Italy. The company initially focused on leather goods, such as bags, wallets, and accessories. First, the brand started by importing leather goods, but slowly moved on to making its own to meet the demands. Guccio’s wife and sons Aldo, Rodolfo, and Vasco also got involved in the business. After Guccio Gucci’s death in 1953, his son Aldo took the reins of the company.
The company prospered under Aldo and new shops were opened in cities like Paris, New York, and London. Guccio’s three sons had an equal share in the company, but after the death of Vasco and Rodolfo in 1974 and 1983 respectively, the control was wrested into the hands of Aldo Gucci and Rodolfo’s son Maurizio Gucci. Throughout the 1980s they fought each other to gain complete control of the company, with Maurizio Gucci winning the role of chairperson. During this time, Aldo Gucci was sentenced to prison for a year for evading taxes.
In 1988, Maurizio sold a 48% stake in the company to InvestCorp, an investment fund, and kept the rest 50% of the shares for himself. But soon Maurizio became less interested in the company and started splurging the company’s money. InvestCorp then bought the rest of the 50% stake in the company and became the complete owner of the fashion label. This didn’t sit well with Maurizio’s ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani who wanted complete control over the company and she hired hit men to kill her ex-husband. Maurizio Gucci was killed in March 1995. This is how the family lost control over their own business.
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Owners Of The Fashion Giant In Recent Years
There have been a lot of power struggles over the ownership of the label Gucci over the last decades. First, the feud was between the Gucci family members which resulted in Aldo Gucci getting ousted and the eventual death of Maurizio Gucci. The Gucci family lost complete control and ownership of their own family business to InvestCorp.
The InvestCorp-led Gucci was revived by Tom Ford who became its creative director. But InvestCorp soon started selling its shares from 1995-1997. At the same time, French conglomerate LVMH started buying shares of the company with the aim to obtain a controlling stake in the company. Tom Ford and legal advisor De Sole realized this and in an attempt to thwart LVMH, went to businessman François Pinault.
Pinault’s company Pinault Printemps Redoute then bought a 40% stake in Gucci and in the process diluted LVMH’s shares to a 20% stake. This newly formed coalition also bought a 51% stake in Alexander McQueen’s brand who was an essential part of Givenchy (owned by LVMH) at the time. This was considered one of the biggest tussles in the fashion world and even caused a rift between both companies. But the cold war ended in 2001 when all the companies reached a mutual agreement. Pinault Printemps Redoute was then named PPR and further renamed Kering in 2013. As of 2023, Kering is still the complete owner of the brand Gucci.
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