EssilorLuxottica’s Silent Crisis: A Family Divide Threatens Italy’s Industrial Crown Jewel
The Italy-based eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica has quietly lost half its market value in under a year — not because of failed products or overseas competition, but because of a family feud that’s paralyzing its governance. The fallout isn’t just affecting shareholders; it’s rattling workers in Belluno, unsettling Italian investors, and exposing the fragile structure behind Europe’s most iconic family-owned industrial empire.
Why This Matters
• €70 billion in market value evaporated since November 2025, with shares trading near €146 — half their 2025 peak.
• Francesco Milleri’s mandate expires in April 2027, but Delfin’s unanimous-decision rule means no change can happen without all eight heirs agreeing.
• 250,000 global employees are watching as leadership tensions could shift production away from Italian factories like Agordo.
• Delfin, the Luxembourg holding, controls 32% of EssilorLuxottica — and its board has yet to produce a strategy to reverse the slide, despite direct appeals from heir Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio.
The Real Enemy Isn’t the Market — It’s the Boardroom
EssilorLuxottica’s financials tell a different story than its stock chart. Sales, cash flow, and EPS are all at record highs. Profit margins remain among the best in luxury manufacturing. Yet the company’s valuation has collapsed — not because of weak demand, but because investors fear governance collapse.
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, son of founder Leonardo Del Vecchio, left his executive roles on August 31, 2026, openly accusing CEO Francesco Milleri of cultivating a ‘distant, impersonal’ culture that abandoned the founder’s legacy. His departure wasn’t a quiet exit — it was a public indictment. Yet he still holds 12.5% of Delfin, the holding company that owns controlling stakes in EssilorLuxottica. And he’s not alone.
The problem? Delfin’s board — composed of the eight Del Vecchio heirs — holds lifetime appointments with no formal term limits. Their role is supposed to be custodial: ensuring the company endures beyond the founder. But for four years, they’ve acted more like passive investors than stewards. No strategic plan. No transparent discussion. No decision on whether to support Intesa Sanpaolo’s takeover bid for Siena or Mps’s dual acquisition in banking.
"The board should be working full-time," Del Vecchio said at the Forum Teha in Cernobbio. "They’re not implementing strategy — they’re waiting for it to be handed to them."
Workers in Belluno Are Listening
While Wall Street analysts downgrade targets, in the mountain towns of Veneto, factory floor managers hear a different question: "Will we still have jobs next year?"
Italian unions Filctem CGIL, Femca CISL, and Uiltec UIL have formally asked for emergency talks. Production at the historic Agordo plant has dipped since 2024, and rumors of overseas relocations have begun to circulate. The workers aren’t angry at Milleri — they’re afraid of what happens if Delfin’s board keeps refusing to act.
"The sense of belonging isn’t what it was," Del Vecchio wrote in his resignation letter. "People feel it before the market does." And they do.
Milleri’s Quiet Strength — and Why the Board Can’t Replace Him (Yet)
Francesco Milleri didn’t rise through the family ranks. He was handpicked by the founder in 2020 for his operational rigor. Today, he leads a team that’s doubled earnings per share in eight years while expanding into smart lenses and digital retail — innovations that outpaced rivals like Zenni and Warby Parker.
The EssilorLuxottica board reaffirmed its full confidence in Milleri on September 9, 2026. A group of 20 senior global executives echoed this in a private letter, bluntly stating: "The current market price is being distorted by external factors — not mismanagement."
But here’s the twist: Milleri isn’t fighting for control. He’s awaiting a decision from Delfin. He knows his position is not under threat from within the company — only from the family’s paralysis.
What This Means for Italian Investors
For retail investors holding EssilorLuxottica shares — from pension funds in Bologna to retirees in Sicily — this isn’t just a stock play. It’s a test of faith in Italy’s industrial soul.
The 300-euro target floated by Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio isn’t fantasy. It’s a demand for strategic discipline: invest in tech, protect manufacturing, restore culture. But no one has proposed how to get there.
The three possible paths ahead:
• A compromise: Milleri stays, but Delfin installs an independent chair to mediate between heirs and management.
• A forced change: After April 2027, if no direction emerges, institutional investors may pressure for board reform.
• A long freeze: The board stays inert, the stock stagnates, and the company — once Italy’s most admired export — becomes a monument to family dysfunction.
The truth is simple: EssilorLuxottica doesn’t need a new CEO. It needs a board that works. The legacy of Leonardo Del Vecchio wasn’t built on dividends — it was built on trust between leaders, workers, and a country that believed in making things better than anyone else. That trust is now the most valuable asset at risk. And if it breaks, nothing else will matter.
