Giorgio Armani kept Giorgio Armani S.p.A. independent until his death on 4 September 2025, aged 91. He did not expand by buying other luxury brands, as Prada and Gucci did, and he did not sell to a larger group. He grew through long partnerships: L’Oréal in beauty, Luxottica in eyewear and Emaar in hotels.
This post explains how those partnerships worked, which offers were reported, and why his will names two of his oldest partners as possible buyers.
How Armani’s Licences Worked
A licence lets another company make and sell products under a brand, in return for royalties, while the owner keeps the name. It took Armani into perfume and glasses without building the factories himself.
L’Oréal has run Armani perfume, skin care and make-up through its luxury division since 1988. In March 2018 the two renewed the licence until 2050. The lines had passed €1 billion of revenue in 2017, according to L’Oréal.
In eyewear, the partnership with Luxottica began in 1988, when its founder, Leonardo Del Vecchio, teamed up with Armani. Armani left Luxottica in 2002, when his frames made up 4.95% of its sales, ANSA reported. In 2003 the licence went to the rival Safilo. In November 2011 Armani signed a letter of intent to return to Luxottica from 2013, when the Safilo contract ran out. In September 2022 EssilorLuxottica renewed the licence for 15 years from January 2023, to the end of 2037, for five labels from Giorgio Armani Privé to A|X Armani Exchange.
Armani’s Hotels With Emaar in Dubai and Milan
In 2005 Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and Emaar Properties, the Dubai developer, agreed to create Armani Hotels & Resorts, to develop, own and operate hotels and residences. When the first hotel opened, the stated plan was at least ten hotels and resorts within ten years.
The Armani Hotel Dubai opened on 27 April 2010 in the Burj Khalifa, which Emaar developed. The Armani Hotel Milano followed in 2011. In March 2022 a third hotel was announced in Diriyah, near Riyadh, to be managed by Emaar Hospitality Group. Seventeen years after the agreement, two were open.
The Offers Armani Turned Away
According to the International Directory of Company Histories (2002), Armani turned down a takeover offer from the Lanvin house in 1989, and Gucci and LVMH also offered to buy him out, on dates it does not give. In 1997 he was reported to be weighing a listing or a partner. Neither happened. The same history notes that while Prada and Gucci bought other luxury brands, Armani tightened control of his own production and marketing. In May 2001, already owning 53.2% of Simint, a maker of much of his casual wear, the group made a public offer for a further 46%, costing 262 billion lire from its own cash, TextilWirtschaft reported. Part 3 covers that strategy.
The fullest record is from 2021. In April he told Vogue, as Reuters reported, that a tie-up with an important Italian company could be considered, but a French buyer was not on the cards. In July, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources, that John Elkann, an Agnelli heir and chairman of Ferrari, had offered to buy a minority stake and was rebuffed. Exor, the Agnelli holding, denied making an approach. Later that year Armani told the magazine MFF that independence was “an essential value”. In April 2024 he told Bloomberg he did not want to rule out future options.
How the Will Turns Partners Into Buyers
His will asks the foundation to sell a first 15% within 18 months, preferably to LVMH, L’Oréal or EssilorLuxottica, or another group of comparable standing, with a path to a majority later or, failing that, a listing. The foundation keeps at least 30.1%. Two of the three names are the partners of 1988. The details are in our post on the will. As of 20 October 2026, no buyer has been announced.
A fair caveat
Much of this record is reported rather than documented. The early offers come from one reference work. The 2021 Elkann story rests on unnamed sources, and Exor denied it. The licence fees Armani received were not disclosed in our sources, and the L’Oréal figure is sales of Armani products, not Armani’s income.
Five lessons to take away
- A licence can bring reach without selling shares. Armani entered beauty and eyewear without giving up equity.
- Long partners become natural buyers. Two of the three groups in his will first worked with him in 1988.
- Partnerships can end and restart. The eyewear licence went to Safilo for about a decade and came back.
- Buy to protect the core. His purchases were mostly makers of his own lines, not other brands.
- Views change, so write them down. In 2021 he ruled out a French buyer; his will names LVMH and L’Oréal, both French.
For a family office
A family that licenses its name should know when each licence ends, whether it has change-of-control or first-offer terms, and whether a licensee would make a good shareholder. These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
