The founder of the well-known Italian fashion brand Luciano Benetton announced his withdrawal from the company, explaining that in the accounts there are “a budget hole of about 100 million euros“, in an interview published this Saturday by the newspaper “Corriere della Sera.
“I trusted and I was wrong. They betrayed me in the truest sense of the word. A few months ago I understood that something was wrong. That the photograph of the group that senior management repeated to us in the boards of directors was not real “explains Benetton, who has held the position of executive president of the group since 2018 when he decided to return to the group.
And he adds: “Unfortunately sacrifices will have to be made. What I can say is that every effort will be made to rediscover the energy of the best times and give new life to this brand that represents so much to our family.”
The company’s board of directors, headed by CEO Massimo Renon, expires next month and the meeting is scheduled for June 18.
Of the CEO, whom Benetton never mentions by name, he points out: “He has never asked me anything, neither he nor the new collaborators he has brought in, among them five come from the sales area of a company with a market tradition completely different from ours.
“At one of the council meetings the bomb explodes. “Suddenly they present a dramatic budget hole, a shock that leaves us breathless, around 100 million”he reveals.
And he accuses: “either they are unprepared to the point of not being able to understand the fundamentals of the company, therefore in good faith but seriously inadequate for the functions they have performed, or they have voluntarily decided to keep the reality of the facts hidden and, therefore, omitting valuable information, to the point where they could no longer hide the truth. “There will be an investigation into this.”
The company, which ceased trading on the stock market in 2012, is now part of the Edizione holding company, divided between the four branches of the family.
“Fortunately – explains Luciano Benneton – We had decided to take Benetton private some time ago. Therefore, the business risks were and are all in the hands of the family.”
“I left the company in 2012 with a healthy company, with a turnover of 2,000 million and a profit, although logic says that we can always do better. Only after strong insistence from my brother Gilberto did I decide to return in 2018, shortly before his death,” he explains after announcing that he will leave the presidency.
EFE
