Luxottica

Luxottica Group S.p.A.
Company typePublic (1990–2017)
Subsidiary (2018–present)
NYSE: LUX (1990–2017)[1][2]
IndustryEyewear manufacturing, luxury, eyewear manufacturing and wholesale distribution, eyewear retailing
Founded1961; 63 years ago (1961)
(Agordo, Italy)
FounderLeonardo Del Vecchio
Headquarters
Milan
,
Italy
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Francesco Milleri
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)[3]
ProductsSunglasses, spectacle frames, prescription frames
ServicesOpticians, optical retail, sun retail
Number of employees
89,000 (2019)
ParentEssilorLuxottica (2018–present)[4]
DivisionsRay-Ban, Persol, Oakley, LensCrafters, OPSM, Sunglass Hut, Apex by Sunglasshut, Eyemed, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Onesight, Target Optical
Websiteluxottica.com/en

Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear multinational corporation headquartered in Milan. As a vertically integrated company, Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails its eyewear brands through its own subsidiaries. It is the largest eyewear company in the world.[5][6] It is, since October 2018, a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica, which arose out of a merger between the Italian company and the French ophthalmic optics corporation Essilor.[7]

Luxottica was founded in Agordo by Leonardo Del Vecchio in 1961 as a sunglasses manufacturer selling and branding under its own name. Del Vecchio quickly acquired numerous businesses in the pursuit of vertical integration, buying distribution companies rapidly and signing its first designer licensing agreement with Giorgio Armani. In 1990, the company listed American depositary receipts on the New York Stock Exchange where it traded until 2017.

Luxottica retails its products through stores that it owns, predominantly LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, and Glasses.com. It also owns EyeMed, one of the largest vision health insurance providers. In addition to licensing prescription and non-prescription sunglasses frames for many luxury and designer brands including Chanel, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Michael Kors, Coach, Miu Miu and Tory Burch,[8] the Italian corporation further outright owns and manufactures Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Oakley. Luxottica's market power has allowed it to charge price markups of up to 1000%.[9]

In January 2017, Luxottica announced its merger with Essilor, in which Essilor would buy Luxottica while Del Vecchio would become executive chairman of the combined company, as well as co-lead the company with then-Essilor CEO Hubert Sagnières.[10][11] The combined entity would command more than one quarter of global value sales of eyewear.[12][13] In March 2018, the European Commission unconditionally approved the merger of Essilor and Luxottica.[14] On 1 October 2018, the new holding company EssilorLuxottica was born, resulting in combined market capitalization of approximately $70 billion.[15]

  1. ^ "NYSE DELISTING FAQ". Luxottica. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Experience real-time quotes, in-depth charts, and analyst ratings". Webull. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Francesco Milleri replaces Massimo Vian as the new CEO of Luxottica". 19 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. ^ "EssilorLuxottica - Annual Report 2023". Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Luxottica to Buy a U.S. Sunglasses Maker". The New York Times/Reuters. 21 June 2007.
  6. ^ "Company Profile, Reuters.com". Reuters. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  7. ^ "5 Biggest Eyewear Companies in the World". Insider Monkey. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  8. ^ Arends, Brett (22 July 2010). "Are Designer Sunglasses Worth the Price?". Wall Street Journal.
    "Eyewear brands". luxottica.com. 1 May 2015.
    Touryalai, Halah. "Ray-Ban, Oakley, Chanel Or Prada Sunglasses? They're All Made By This Obscure $9B Company". Forbes. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
    Knight, Sam (10 May 2018). "The spectacular power of Big Lens". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  9. ^ Lazarus, David (5 March 2019). "Column: How badly are we being ripped off on eyewear? Former industry execs tell all". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ^ Muiler, Thomas; Leafgreen, Dan (15 January 2017). "Essilor to Buy Ray-Ban Maker Luxottica for About $24 Billion". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  11. ^ Chad Bray and Elizabeth Paton, Luxottica, Owner of Ray-Ban, in $49 Billion Merger With Essilor. The New York Times, 2017/01/16.
  12. ^ "Eyewear 2018 Edition: Key Research Highlights". 17 July 2017.
  13. ^ Knight, Sam (10 May 2018). "The spectacular power of Big Lens". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  14. ^ "EU clears merger of Essilor, Luxottica without conditions". Reuters. March 2018.
  15. ^ "EssilorLuxottica". Forbes. Retrieved 12 June 2021.