Luciano Benetton shocks Italy with his resignation from the textile group: he denounces a “dramatic hole” of at least 100 million euros

“I trusted and I was wrong. I have been deceived in the truest sense. Months ago I realised there were some things that were not right, the group photograph that the top officials of the board of directors kept repeating to me was not real.”

With those words for journalist Danielle Manca Corriere della SeraAccording to the most traditional Italian newspaper, Luciano Benetton, who together with his brothers Carlo, Gilberto and Giuliana founded the Benetton Group in 1965 in the province of Treviso in the Italian region of Veneto, justified his resignation as president of the company, which is part of the Edizione family holding company. Benetton estimated the “dramatic hole” in the balance sheet at around 100 million euros, but that it could grow to 230 million.

Through the Compañía de Tierras del Sud Argentino (CTSA), Benetton also owns hundreds of thousands of hectares in Patagonia, being one of the largest landowners in the country, as well as large producers of sheep wool and beef. It is also one of the companies that planted the most trees in the Patagonian region, a project that began in 2016 with the planting of 8,600 hectares of ponderosa pine, with the aim of reaching 16,000 hectares and the first commercial cut by 2034, in order to become a producer of better quality fiber.

Benetton’s Patagonian properties have led to frequent conflicts with Mapuche groups, to whom in 2017 it offered to donate 7,500 hectares of land in Chubut Province.

The brand, famous for its colors, bold advertising and hundreds of clothing items, especially for sweaters, which Benetton initially produced in large quantities but distributed in small quantities, until the most popular colors were discovered, they dyed them on a large scale. Already knowing that they would have an outlet, this Sunday, according to Corriere – has about 5,000 stores worldwide and about 6,000 direct employees.

In a lengthy interview that attracted attention across Italy, Benetton admitted it became aware there were problems “in a mild way” on September 23 last year, but that “everything seemed to be under control.”

Almost ten months have passed since then. “While we were receiving advice from the executives in a perfunctory manner on those first signs, I realized that the numbers did not add up and that the problem was very different from what they had told me. And at the same time, for a long time I had been feeling discontent from inside and outside the company because of the arrogant and incompetent attitude of the new executives,” Benetton said, without naming Corriere, referring to the board of directors he chairs. Massimo RenonThe CEO of the company, who would have hidden from him “a dramatic balance sheet hole” of around 100 million euros.

This is a figure that Benetton itself believes is predictable. “What has come out since September 2023 is shameful.” It was a shock that left us breathless, he told Corriere.

Luciano Benetton, 89, distanced himself from the group’s daily affairs in 2012, when it was doing well and had an annual turnover of around 2,000 million euros, but he returned in 2018, the same year in which Gilberto and Carlo, his two younger brothers, died.

The following year he chose Rainone as CEO, whom he now accuses — without naming him — of deceiving him or, at the very least, of being incompetent.

Of the four founding siblings, Giuliana and Luciano are now left, whose departure from the holding company will be formalized at the next meeting in mid-June.

The family holding company, currently headed by Luciano’s son Alessandro, comprises assets that go far beyond the textile sector and extend to real estate investments (such as in Patagonia), road concessions, food production, operations and developments in the insurance sector, and the administration of digital and port infrastructure.

Alessandro, second generation of founders, tried to calm the controversy regarding the bomb dropped by his father. He admitted that the 100 million euros that Luciano spoke of is “a significant loss”, but that they will make amends in the coming years with a capital contribution of around 260 million euros to relaunch what many still remember as the “United Colors of Benetton”, one of his most famous advertising campaigns that made him even more famous. Oliviero ToscaniThe Italian creative in charge of the group’s advertising.