Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, the son of Luxottica’s late founder, is resigning from all of his management roles at EssilorLuxottica, stepping down as chairman of Ray-Ban and as chief strategy officer of the Italian-French eyewear group. The 31-year-old, known by his initials LMDV, said he would leave on 31 August to focus on new entrepreneurial ventures.
In a resignation letter addressed to chairman and chief executive Francesco Milleri and to the board, reported by Milano Finanza, Del Vecchio accused the company’s leadership of becoming “distant” and “impersonal,” drifting from the people he said “must once again be put at the centre” of the group, as in “Luxottica twenty years ago.” His departure follows one tendered last year by his half-brother, Rocco Basilico.
“I keep talking to people in the company. I did it when I was a store manager and I have never stopped doing it,” he wrote, but “the enthusiasm is not what it was. The sense of belonging is not what it was. The distance can be felt. And people sense it before the markets.” He framed his exit as a choice made from strength, not failure, noting that his three-year mandate at Ray-Ban had ended with its targets exceeded.
Del Vecchio tied his argument to his father’s legacy, recalling that the founder had built Luxottica “by asking a great deal of people” while understanding that loyalty had to be returned. “You cannot be a team only when you are presenting results,” he wrote. “This is not the Luxottica I grew up in.” Losing that sense of belonging, he added, “would be far more serious than missing a budget target.” A group spokesperson confirmed the resignation and thanked him for his contribution to the company’s growth.
He said he would remain closely involved as a shareholder through the family holding company Delfin, vowing to defend the company’s independence and its need for stable ownership and a long-term vision. The eyewear giant, founded in the 1960s, generates more than 28 billion euros in revenue, and Delfin’s web of holdings stretches across Italian finance, including stakes in Monte dei Paschi, Generali and UniCredit. More than four years after the founder’s death, his eight heirs have yet to agree on how to carry out his will.
