Rocco Basilico, chief wearables officer at eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica and one of many heirs of the group’s late founder, is stepping down subsequent month after greater than a decade on the firm, an organization spokesperson mentioned on Monday.
Basilico’s exit comes amid tensions inside holding firm Delfin, chaired by EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri who’s the previous right-hand man of Luxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio.
EssilorLuxottica is specializing in growing AI-powered eyewear in partnership with Meta, which has begun to present outcomes. Although the Ray-Ban Meta-powered glasses have thus far accounted for less than a fraction of the group’s whole income, they’ve grow to be a focus for analysts and traders, in addition to a catalyst for the corporate’s investments.
“From an operational standpoint, the wearables project is now well advanced in its commercial and technological development phase, and therefore we do not foresee any impact on the group,” Equita analysts mentioned in a be aware on Basilico’s departure.
Shares of the Paris-listed group have been down 1.1 % on Monday.
“After six years supporting our smart eyewear journey, Rocco Basilico has decided to pursue his personal interests outside of the company,” the EssilorLuxottica spokesperson mentioned.
“He leaves at a time when our position as the category leader is well defined and our talent pipeline, particularly in the wearables space, is very healthy.”
EssilorLuxottica was created by the merger of Italy’s Luxottica and France’s Essilor. Basilico was certainly one of eight heirs to Del Vecchio, who inherited holding firm Delfin, which owns a 32 % stake in the Ray-Ban maker.
Differences among the many heirs have prevented them from finalizing the succession course of over the previous three years.
Basilico, the son of Del Vecchio’s spouse from a earlier marriage, was not too long ago challenged by the youngest inheritor, Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, over his rights in the holding firm, every day Corriere della Sera reported final month.
Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is president of the Ray-Ban model at EssilorLuxottica.
Delfin declined to remark. Basilico and Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
By Elisa Anzolin, Gianluca Semeraro
Learn extra:
EssilorLuxottica Thinks It Cracked the Code on Smart Glasses
The eyewear large and Meta are simply getting began as they mount essentially the most credible effort but to make good glasses a mainstream hit, EssilorLuxottica chief wearables officer Rocco Basilico says in the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2026.