By Tassilo Hummel
PARIS (Reuters) -Renault chief executive Luca de Meo is leaving the French carmaker to pursue “new challenges”, the company said on Sunday, and newspaper Le Figaro reported he would become the new CEO of Gucci-owner Kering .
De Meo, an Italian known for his energy, led the French carmaker for five years, overseeing a strategic shift towards electric vehicles and an overhaul of the firm’s two-decade long strategic alliance with Nissan .
“Luca de Meo has expressed his decision to step down in order to take on new challenges outside the automotive sector,” the company said.
De Meo will leave Renault in mid July, Renault said. The French states holds a 15% stake in the company.
Kering declined to comment on the Le Figaro report.
If confirmed, de Meo’s move to Kering, which lately failed to convince stock-market investors of its plans to turn around its former cash cow label Gucci, would mark a dramatic change at the group founded and controlled by the billionaire Pinault family.
Speculation about the group’s future leadership accelerated last week after French media reported Pinault was set to give up the CEO role.
A person familiar with the thinking of Kering Chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault told Reuters on Friday that he was actively working on his succession, which includes splitting up the two roles to hire a new chief executive.
Kering, which also owns labels Yves Saint-Laurent and Balenciaga, unexpectedly cancelled an event with analysts planned for Monday, without saying why, a person familiar with the matter said.
Kering shares have lost over 60% of their value in the last two years, marked by a string of profit warnings and designer changes at Gucci, its most important brand by sales and profits.
In a statement issued minutes after the French media report about de Meo’s planned moves, Renault confirmed de Meo’s departure, effective July 15.
Pinault took over the leadership of the group, founded by his father Francois Pinault, in 2005.
Under his leadership, the group became a pure luxury player and enjoyed years of spectacular growth at Kering thanks to Gucci and the “ugly-chic” designs of its former creative director Alessandro Michele.
But as shoppers grew tired of Michele’s fur-lined loafers after the pandemic, Kering struggled to reinvigorate the brand and took on over 10 billion euros in debt which today exposes it to the risk of another credit downgrade, Reuters reported last month.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; additional reporting by Leigh ThomasEditing by Peter Graff and Chizu Nomiyama)
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