Word: prada
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Last week her firm announced its intention to become a powerful business force as well. Under the careful eyes of Prada's husband Patrizio Bertelli, its managing director, the firm grabbed 5% of rival fashion house Gucci for a little more than $120 million. The acquisition, akin to Hyundai's biting off a tasty chunk of Honda, had many manicured hands scratching coiffed heads--including some at Gucci's Florentine headquarters, which released a terse statement: "No agreement has been entered into with the Prada group, and no discussions are contemplated. Gucci did not solicit this investment...
...idea of a Prada takeover of Gucci would have seemed risible 20 years ago, when Gucci was among the world's great brands and Prada was a leather-goods firm with a boutique in one of Milan's historic shopping arcades. But since Prada and Bertelli united--in marriage and business--in 1987, they have turned a respectable business into fashion's most watched house. They added footwear, women's ready-to-wear, a younger collection called Miu Miu, menswear, underwear and sportswear. Prada's design sense has made her the most influential designer of the decade, with a ripple...
...look sells. The single boutique in Milan has grown into a Prada empire of 120 shops around the world. Last year the firm opened 27 flagship stores and 13 in-store boutiques. This year it is planning 15 Prada stores (in such places as Chicago and Taipei) and five Miu Miu shops. According to Bertelli, Prada had a pretax profit of $130.1 million on revenues of $674 million last year. This year he expects $150 million on sales of $824 million--tidy numbers for a family firm...
...profits growth for 1997 would be lower than expected, Gucci stock plummeted almost 20% in one day. Sure enough, the company announced last week that this year's first-quarter net profit had dropped 10% from last year, from $48 million to $43.1 million. On top of this, the Prada purchase has highlighted Gucci's lack of defenses against a hostile takeover...
...said. "I own a private company, and I can't be taken over. Here's what I'm telling them: let's merge the two companies so Gucci will no longer be subject to a takeover." He later denied part of this, but he has talked before of turning Prada into a multinational, multibrand house like LVMH, the French conglomerate that specializes in the whims of the very wealthy, from Louis Vuitton luggage to Christian Dior gowns...