Luxottica to lose second chief executive in 2 months

Enrico Cavatorta is set to resign as chief executive of Luxottica after just 40 days in the job, deepening the management turmoil at the helm of the world's largest eyewear company in terms of sales.

Late on Sunday, Luxottica announced that Mr Cavatorta had expressed his "intention" to resign from the maker of Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses, amid reports of rising friction with Leonardo Del Vecchio, the 79-year old founder and chairman of the company.

Luxottica said it would convene a special board meeting on Monday to discuss the planned exit, with Mr Del Vecchio proposing that Massimo Vian, the chief operations officer, should take over as co-chief executive.

Mr Cavatorta's departure deals a significant blow to Mr Del Vecchio's attempts to set a new course for Luxottica after Andrea Guerra, chief executive for a decade, left the company little more than a month ago with a €45m exit package.

Mr Del Vecchio, who owns 66 per cent of the company he established a half a century ago, had clashed with Mr Guerra over Luxottica's expansion strategy recently. But for most of Mr Guerra's tenure, Mr Del Vecchio had stayed above the fray, in what was widely viewed as a rare case of an Italian corporate patriarch handing over the reins of his business to an outside manager.

The return of Mr Del Vecchio - an orphan from Milan who became Italy's second richest man with an estimated wealth of €20bn - to frontline management of the company after a decade out of the limelight, has been viewed by critics as a step back for Italian business, where there is growing pressure to modernise corporate governance.

As Mr Guerra left, Mr Del Vecchio said Luxottica was so complex it needed to be run by co-chief executives. Mr Cavatorta was one of them, and looks to be replaced by Mr Vian - while Luxottica is still looking for the other, the company said on Sunday. "Luxottica is in a position to take the necessary time to execute this search, in order to ensure that the best decision is made for the company," it said, noting a high-profile list of candidates to pick from.

Luxottica shares closed at €41.08 on Friday, just above the price of €40.84 on September 1 after Mr Guerra's departure. Luxottica recently signed a deal to co-develop and distribute Google Glass, but Mr Del Vecchio recently told the FT that he would not want to wear the interactive headset himself.

"I have not used Google Glass," Mr Del Vecchio said in an interview. "It would embarrass me going around with that on my face. It would be OK in the disco, but I no longer go to the disco."

Luxottica also said on Sunday that Mr Del Vecchio had proposed a reorganisation of Delfin, the company's majority shareholder, with the "aim of improving its governance and further separating ownership from the management of its portfolio companies". Mr Del Vecchio also noted that his son Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio had never been considered as a board member and another son, Claudio Del Vecchio, would not be reappointed to the board after his term expires.

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