Armani Opens Formal Talks With LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica Over 15% Stake Sale

Giorgio Armani spent five decades keeping his fashion house independent while every other Italian and French luxury name got swallowed into a conglomerate. His will made sure that streak wouldn't outlive him.

Armani is set to begin formal talks in the coming weeks with LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica over selling a minority stake in the company, according to a Financial Times report cited by Reuters and republished by The Hindu Business Line and other outlets on Sunday, September 27, 2026. The three companies are the exact buyers Giorgio Armani named in his will before he died on September 4, 2025, at age 91.

That will didn't leave much wiggle room. It instructed his heirs to sell an initial stake of roughly 15% within 12 to 18 months of his death, putting the deadline somewhere between September 2026 and March 2027. The talks were originally expected back in June, according to Traders Union, but got pushed to late September or early October while the company worked through an internal strategic review.

CEO Says Nothing Is Locked In

Speaking on the sidelines of the Giorgio Armani fashion show on Sunday, CEO Giuseppe Marsocci told reporters the sale doesn't have to go to one buyer. "It is not written in stone that it has to be one investor," Marsocci said, according to Reuters reporting carried by Global Banking and Finance Review. He said no decision has been finalized and any deal still depends on agreement over "price and details."

Marsocci, who took over as CEO in October 2025, said the company intends to stick to the timeline set out in Giorgio Armani's will. People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times, per Traders Union, that one option under informal discussion would split the 15% stake three ways, roughly 5% apiece, so LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica could each get a seat at the table without any single buyer writing a bigger check.

EssilorLuxottica already holds an Armani eyewear license running through 2038. L'Oréal has a beauty licensing agreement with the house that Business Upturn reports runs through 2050 and has said it would be "honoured" to be named a potential investor. LVMH brings the scale to operate across fashion, beauty and accessories at once.

The Numbers Don't Make This Easy

Armani's business is shrinking. Revenue fell 2.8% to €2.19 billion in 2025, the second straight annual decline after a 5% drop in 2024, according to figures reported by Traders Union. EBITDA actually rose 3.2% to €153 million, but that came from cost cuts and stronger performance at the high-end Armani Privé line, not from underlying sales growth.

That gap between a shrinking top line and a propped-up bottom line is exactly why nobody agrees on what 15% of this company is worth. Parties close to the process are floating a valuation near €10 billion, per Traders Union. The prospective buyers are reportedly pricing it at €3 billion to €7 billion. That's a multibillion-euro chasm, and it's the kind of gap that kills deals or drags them out for years.

If talks with LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica stall over price, Armani has a fallback: an initial public offering. Traders Union reports that option is on the table if the private stake sale doesn't come together on terms the estate can accept.

Where the Coverage Splits

Business Upturn's report leaned into the idea that formal talks are essentially locked in, describing Armani as "expected to begin" discussions with LVMH and L'Oréal as though the mechanics were settled. Marsocci's own Sunday comments push back on that framing. He was explicit that no decision has been made, on either the number of investors or the structure of any sale, and that everything still hinges on price negotiations that haven't concluded.

Meanwhile Marsocci is also running a parallel project with Boston Consulting Group aimed at repositioning Armani's brands and pushing into higher-margin categories like accessories, according to Traders Union. Whether that turnaround plan gets fully priced into whatever valuation LVMH, L'Oréal and EssilorLuxottica eventually offer is the open question that will decide whether Giorgio Armani's independence gets sold off in one sitting or in three separate pieces.