Imagine turning down $3.9 billion because the guy asking is your stepbrother. A Ray-Ban heir just did exactly that, and the family feud behind the company that makes Ray-Ban and Oakley is now very much public.
Rocco Basilico rejected a €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) bid for his 12.5% stake in Delfin, the holding company that controls EssilorLuxottica. Bloomberg reported the news on Oct. 29, citing people familiar with the matter. The offer came from Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio. Spokespeople for both men declined to comment, so none of this is confirmed on the record yet.
Why the Ray-Ban Heir Is Fighting His Own Family
Delfin is the family vehicle left behind when Luxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio died in June 2022. Eight heirs each hold 12.5%, according to FashionNetwork. Delfin’s publicly held holdings are worth more than €40 billion, including nearly a third of EssilorLuxottica.
Basilico is the son of the founder’s widow, Nicoletta Zampillo, from an earlier marriage. Leonardo Maria is her son with the founder. Bloomberg calls them stepbrothers, while Italian outlets say half-brothers.
Either way, this is not a friendly negotiation. (Nobody is passing the potatoes at this dinner table.)
The Gap Between $3.9 Billion and “Not Enough”
Here’s the thing: this Delfin heir is already trying to sell. He put his stake on the market under Delfin’s transfer rules. Reports on his asking price differ, though. Milano Finanza says his summer notice pointed to about €4 billion. Another report says he wants at least €4.3 billion ($4.8 billion).
So why say no? Italian outlet Lettera43 says the bid implied a discount of roughly 30% to Delfin’s net asset value. In other words, a sale price with a markdown sticker on it.
Meanwhile, Milano Finanza’s sources describe the proposal going to Basilico’s lawyers and coming back rejected. The offer was reportedly made about 10 days before the news broke.
A Second Suitor Circles the Ray-Ban Family Heir
The stepbrother is not the only one at the door. Czech billionaire Michal Strnad made a roughly €30 billion bid for all of Delfin in a letter dated Oct. 20. The offer is valid for 30 days, which runs out around Nov. 19.
His bid would require changing Delfin’s bylaws, and that takes 88% of the capital. As a result, a single heir can block it, and any one of them can sink the deal. Leonardo Maria has publicly opposed any sale of Delfin, according to Billionaires.africa.
The Backstory Makes It Worse
This is not Leonardo Maria’s first big swing. His €10 billion plan to buy 25% of Delfin from siblings Luca and Paola collapsed after Delfin’s board declined to backstop it. He also left EssilorLuxottica earlier this year and has criticized Delfin chairman Francesco Milleri, who also runs EssilorLuxottica.
Basilico, for his part, was EssilorLuxottica’s chief wearables officer. Reports have tied his exit from the company to tensions inside Delfin.
We couldn’t verify one more detail: a report that he sold a slice of his stake to another relative for €800,000. That number looks off next to a multi-billion-euro holding, so we’re leaving it out of the story.
Why This EssilorLuxottica Heir Fight Matters Outside Italy
EssilorLuxottica makes Ray-Ban and Oakley and owns LensCrafters. Its smart-glasses push, the unit Basilico used to lead, is one of the biggest bets in wearable AI. For a sense of where that race is heading, see Apple’s own smart-glasses plans. Delfin also holds stakes in Generali, UniCredit and Monte dei Paschi, so who controls it matters well beyond sunglasses.
Family showdowns over control are not rare in business. Nelson Peltz’s $1.4 billion offer for Wendy’s is another recent example of a big stake changing the balance of power.
Still, the practical question here is who ends up holding the keys. A family that can’t agree on a sale can’t easily agree on strategy.
Watch the Nov. 19 deadline, and watch for anyone to say something on the record. Right now, a $3.9 billion offer is getting turned away over a few hundred million dollars, and the whole family is watching who blinks first.
