Style queen walks out on fashion giant in row over £1bn merger
Mum quits store she set up
THE glamorous multi-millionaire founder of luxury fashion website Net-a-Porter has walked out of her company after a clash with the new chief executive.
Natalie Massenet’s online firm, which she founded from her London flat in 2000, is going through a £1billion mega-merger with Italian fashion group Yoox, run by Federico Marchetti.
The 50-year- old mother of two was set to be executive chairman of the merged company, on a level pegging with Marchetti as chief executive.
But a clash of personalities and opinions is reported to have led her to quitting. She has reportedly walked away with around £100million after selling Net-a-Porter shares.
Miss Massenet’s departure does not come as a surprise to those who know her. Fashion insiders said the clash between Mr Marchetti and Miss Massenet had been brewing for months. She is understood to have resigned after returning from holiday.
Earlier this year, Mr Marchetti gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he said the merger was not a marriage of equals, and boasted there would only be one boss of the new company, adding: ‘And that’s me.’
His management style is also understood to have differed greatly from Miss Massenet’s. The FT reported Mr Marchetti admitted his staff did not like him. ‘There is no love…’ he said. ‘I think they feel inspired. But they don’t need to love me.’
This is in stark contrast to Miss Massenet’s cheerleader style of ‘wholesome’ management where she focuses on team spirit and working together.
And he acknowledged that he and his new boardroom rival were ‘different’, adding: ‘But it’s not bad. I don’t need love. I need results.’
Since its creation, Net-a-Porter has become a global phenomenon, with sales reaching more than £500million as it tapped into women’s desire to buy luxury goods online which are delivered straight to their door.
Miss Massenet, the California-born daughter of a British Chanel model, set up the business with her then husband Arnaud while she was pregnant with her first child.
It was just as the dotcom crash hit in 2000 and sceptics warned women would refuse to buy expensive clothes without trying them on.
After struggling to get any funding, she eventually managed to raise just over £1million in start-up capital from her Chelsea flat.
She had previously worked for US magazine Women’s Wear Daily and later became an assistant to fashion icon Isabella Blow at Tatler magazine.
Miss Massenet, who split from her husband in 2011 after 15 years of marriage, has since expanded the company with a website for men called Mr Porter and discount site the Outnet.com.
In 2010, she sold a stake in Net-a-Porter to Swiss luxury goods group Richemont, which also owns Cartier and Van Cleef & Arples, netting around £50million.
Richemont agreed the deal to sell it to Yoox in March this year.
Miss Massenet is also the chairman of the British Fashion Council.
The deal with Yoox, which sells overstocked or unsold designer goods from previous seasons, creates a £1billion group and the world’s largest online luxury goods retailer.
Net-a-Porter is famous for its plush black delivery boxes tied up with ribbon, with designer items lovingly wrapped in crisp tissue paper inside.
During the financial crisis women who were unable to give up their Net-a-Porter habit asked for their purchases to be delivered in plain wrapping, to hide their extravagance from colleagues.
A Net-a-Porter spokeswoman did not respond to questions.
Yoox confirmed Massenet’s resignation and said she will not be a member of its board once the merger is completed.
‘There will be one boss – and that’s me’