Giorgio Armani 'doesn’t rule out' merger or IPO in succession plan

Three months before his 90th birthday, Giorgio Armani is hinting at possible big changes for his Italian fashion empire once he’s no longer in charge. “Independence from large groups could still be a driving value for the Armani Group in the future, but I don’t feel I can rule anything out,” Armani said in a written interview. “But as I said, I don’t want to exclude anything a priori because that would be an ‘unentrepreneurial’ course of action.” Armani, who controls virtually all of Giorgio Armani SpA and has a net worth of $6.6 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is also now leaving the door open to an eventual initial public offering. — BI analysts Deborah Aitken and Andrea Ferdinando Leggieri Armani pointedly warned in the interview about larger luxury groups who “increasingly have the historic brands in their sights.” That could deliver growth on one hand, he said, “but on the other it entails an inevitable shift in values and substantial upheaval, style included.” Still, size matters in the industry, and Armani posted about €2.4 billion in sales for 2022, the most recent figure available, dwarfed by LVMH’s nearly €80 billion for that year, which includes wine, spirits and distribution revenue. The Armani business model “is very unique compared to other fashion companies, including the French ones,” Saviolo said, pointing to Giorgio Armani’s unique position as “a designer with a strong identity who is also an entrepreneur and owns a complex portfolio of business lines and factories.” Armani confirmed in the interview that he’d like to leave his company in the hands of a group of close confidantes.