Net-a-Porter Founder Steps Down Ahead of Merger

The founder of online fashion company Net-a-Porter has resigned from that company, even as it prepares to merge with Italian retail firm Yoox Group in a multibillion dollar deal.

Numerous sources reported Wednesday (Sept. 2) that Natalie Massenet, who founded Net-a-Porter 15 years ago, and who had been slated to lead the combined entity as chairman, has stepped down from the company. Net-a-Porter and Yoox are still on track to consummate their merger later this month, and, as Forbes noted, the combined company, with a value of $2.5 billion (and where Net-a-Porter had revenues of $835 million last year alone) would fashion one of the biggest online luxury retailers in the world.

Massenet, according to reports, is selling her stake in Net-a-Porter, worth some $153 million, as she exits. Forbes reported that the executive, who started the company from her apartment a decade and a half ago “is considered one of the leading lights in fashion and retail,” with some longevity to boot, as her company outlasted online rivals and now is able to compete with larger retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Saks, among others. The company now employs 2,500 people across Shanghai, New York and Hong Kong.

Yoox, for its part, said in a statement Wednesday that Massenet’s departure came “amicably” and confirmed that she would indeed not be part of the new, combined company or of its board of directors.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Thursday (Sept. 3), sell-side analyst Luca Solca, with Exane BNP Paribas, said the resignation should not engender surprise. “She wasn’t particularly keen on the merger with Yoox, which is why it didn’t happen earlier,” said the analyst, who added that Massenet had been unhappy in part with the valuation given to Net-a-Porter in the merger itself, and “may have had qualms about Yoox being a very different business, much more of a company run by engineers,” the analyst said.

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