The Italian luxury goods group Salvatore Ferragamo has reached an agreement to hire Marco Gobbetti as its general manager and chief executive, as soon as he is released from his contractual obligations with the British luxury goods group Burberry, where he is currently CEO.
Before Burberry, Gobbetti was CEO of the fashion brand Moschino and spent 13 years with the French luxury goods group LVMH where he was CEO of Givenchy and Céline.
Ferragamo will hold an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors on July 1 “for the necessary formalities” to formalize the deal, the company said.
Separately, Burberry said that Gobbetti had notified the board of his intention to step down as CEO and leave the company at the end of 2021 after nearly five years in the job.
Burberry added that its board will now begin the search for a successor and expects Gobbetti will remain with the company until the end of the year. In that time, he will work with the company’s chairman, Gerry Murphy, ”to provide full support to the executive leadership team on an orderly transition.”
The appointment of Gobbetti was welcomed by financial analysts, who view him as a “strong” leader for the Italian company. Nevertheless, the news knocked more than 2 percent off Ferragamo’s share price on the view that Gobbetti could lift the company’s fortunes, thus reducing the chances that Ferragamo will be taken over. Meanwhile, Burberry’s share price was down by nearly 9 percent on the loss of its CEO.
In commenting Gobbetti’s departure, Murphy said “I would like to thank Marco for his partnership and the immense contribution he has made to Burberry. He has had a transformative impact and established a clearly-defined purpose and strategy, an outstanding team and strong brand momentum. The board and I are naturally disappointed by Marco’s decision, but we understand and fully respect his desire to return to Italy after nearly 20 years abroad.”
