The simmering family feud at the heart of EssilorLuxottica’s ownership structure burst into the open over the weekend, with Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio publicly questioning whether chief executive Francesco Milleri should remain in post beyond his current mandate.
Speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio on Sunday, the founder’s son said an extension of Milleri’s contract — which runs until April 2027 — was “not a foregone conclusion.” The decision, he insisted, ultimately rests with the majority of shareholders in the family holding company Delfin, not with Milleri himself.
The intervention lands at a delicate moment for the eyewear giant. Its shares closed Friday at €151.20, down 2.2 percent on the day and 44 percent below their level at the start of the year. The stock now sits just 1.5 percent above its 52-week low of €148.90, while trading 53 percent beneath its annual peak of €323.70. Technical indicators point to deeply oversold conditions, with the relative strength index at 30.4.
A Holding Company Accused of Paralysis
Del Vecchio levelled sharp criticism at the board of Delfin, which controls 32.4 percent of EssilorLuxottica, accusing it of four years of inertia. He called for a full-time governing body and genuine dialogue among the holding’s shareholders, arguing the board had failed in its duty of “custody and execution” of his late father’s testamentary legacy.
The younger Del Vecchio reserved particular scorn for the notion that Milleri might make strategic decisions unilaterally. “Milleri decides alone? Then it would be called Millfin,” he quipped — a pointed reference suggesting the holding might as well be renamed if its chief executive wielded unchecked power.
At the centre of the dispute lies the question of how Delfin handles its banking investments. The holding owns 17.5 percent of Monte dei Paschi and, according to reports, is weighing potential takeover approaches from Intesa Sanpaolo or an MPS offensive targeting Banco Bpm and Banca Generali. Del Vecchio said he hoped shareholders would be consulted on any such banking proposals, stressing that these stakes represent pure financial investments — whereas EssilorLuxottica, as the industrial core of the family’s wealth, must be shielded from the fallout of those separate battles.
He noted that his own departure from operational roles in August should be seen as a step forward rather than a retreat, even as he pointed repeatedly to the near-halving of the company’s share price as evidence that a longer-term vision is needed — one spanning 50 years rather than the current three-year planning cycles. EssilorLuxottica employs 250,000 people and represents Delfin’s single most important investment, he said, and that industrial crown jewel should not be sacrificed to disputes over banking assets.
A Buyback That Hasn’t Moved the Needle
The governance uncertainty has compounded pressure on a stock that was already struggling. The late-August announcement that Del Vecchio was stepping down as chief strategy officer and president of Ray-Ban added further weight to the share price. In his resignation letter, he criticised the company’s leadership style as distant and impersonal.
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Relations with Milleri had already cooled in June, after Del Vecchio failed in an attempt to acquire stakes held by two siblings in the family holding. Through Delfin, he retains a 12.5 percent interest in EssilorLuxottica and has pledged to continue advocating for the group’s independence and stable ownership structure.
The company responded on 28 August by unveiling a share buyback programme. A service provider was mandated to purchase up to five million shares, with the volume expected to exceed €800 million. EssilorLuxottica framed the move as a demonstration of confidence in its value creation and long-term prospects, and the Paris-listed shares initially jumped as much as 3.8 percent.
Progress has been steady if unspectacular. A regulatory filing from 31 August showed that 137,964 shares were acquired during August at a weighted average daily price of roughly €159.87 across multiple trading venues. Friday’s closing price of €151.20 has already fallen well below that level — the buyback has so far failed to arrest the downward drift.
Solid Fundamentals, Stubborn Share Price
The contrast between the market’s mood and the underlying business could hardly be starker. First-half revenue climbed to €14,818 million, a 9.7 percent increase at constant exchange rates. Second-quarter sales reached €7,692 million, with adjusted operating profit up 15 percent and margins expanding to 18.9 percent. Cash generation exceeded €1.07 billion — the strongest showing in five years.
Strategic momentum continues apace. The company has signed on as an official supporter of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics, with the EA7 brand poised to showcase the intersection of sports technology and Italian craftsmanship. In the smart eyewear segment developed with Meta, sales have tripled in 2025 to more than seven million units, and industry forecasts project the broader market for intelligent glasses to reach 13.4 million units in 2026.
None of that has been enough to steady the shares, which have shed 13 percent in the past 30 days alone. Investors appear less concerned about the numbers than about whether management can regain control of its narrative and strategy following the departure of a prominent family member. Del Vecchio said he is pushing for clarity “in due time, based on results” rather than an immediate resolution — but until the questions over Milleri’s future and Delfin’s approach to its banking dossiers are answered, governance issues seem likely to overshadow operational performance in shaping the share price.
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