Luxottica Group SpA’s management turmoil continues, CEO Cavatorta to leave after disagreements with founder Del Vecchio

The biggest eyewear manufacturer in the world – Luxottica Group SpA is to part with another Chief Executive Officer, as Mr. Enrico Cavatorta has decided to leave the company. The news hints that the imbalance at the manager level of Luxottica, which is considered to have started in September, is still troubling the eyewear maker.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Enrico Cavatorta, who was a Chief Financial Officer before taking the position of Chief Executive Officer, is to resign because of some disagreements with Mr. Leonardo Del Vecchio, who is the founder of Luxottica. Both of them, however, were not immediately available to make any comments on the situation.

Cavatorta has spent only 40 days at the position, after taking over as a Chief Executive Officer in September, succeeding his predecessor Andrea Guerra. His decision is considered to be making the management turmoil in the company even more serious. The relationship of Mr. Guerra with Luxottica ended for similar reasons, because he also chose to leave the company, after having conflict with the founder Del Vecchio, related not only to the managerial choices of the company, but also to its expansion strategy.

The company revealed its Chief Executive Officers intentions to leave and explained that there will be a special board meeting on Monday, at which the planned resignation will be discussed thoroughly. It also became clear that Luxotticas founder Mr. Del Vecchio has backed the current Chief Operating Officer Mr. Massimo Vian, proposing him as companys head.

Luxottica said in its statement, cited by Reuters: “The company also confirms that the search process for a co-CEO for Markets is progressing, based on a high profile list of candidates.” As reported by the Financial Times, it also shared: “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.”

Luxottica Group SpA traded at €41.08 per share by 7:14 GMT, marking a one year increase of 6.15%. The company is valued at €19.75 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 21 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Luxottica Group SpA have a median target of €43.00, with a high estimate of €48.00 and a low estimate of €32.00. The median estimate represents a 4.67% increase from the last price of €41.08.