Yoox Group responds to speculation concerning merger with Net-a-Porter

Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, previously reported that

Yoox Group and Compagnie Financière Richemont have been scheduling meetings to look into the prospect of merging Yoox.com with Net-a-Porter. In response to this report, Yoox Group issued a press statement in which they denied all rumors circulating that they have been in negotiations with Richemont. Yoox stated that ‘no discussions are underway with Compagnie Financière Richemont to asses a potential merger with Net-a-Porter’ and that the company is unable to comment any further on the circulating rumors.

However, internal sources are claiming that Yoox’s was in discussion with Richemont beginning this year and are currently seeking to expand in the luxury area of the industry. It has been rumored that discussions between the two companies hit a wall when Net-a-Porter’s founder and executive chairman, Natalie Massent, refused to sell her company to the Italian e-retailer. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yoox, Federico Marchetti, stated in an interview with WWD that Yoox “often examines dossiers about possible acquisitions," but then continued on to note that at this moment in time there are no negotiations happening between Yoox and Richemont.

Richemont acquired the last shares it did not own in Net-a-Porter in 2010, valuing the luxury retailer at 350 million pounds. In spite of this, Johann Rupert, co-founder and chairman at Richemont, recently mentioned that the company needed to “cull” its losing investments quickly, but did not name any investments. These statements have only fueled further speculation as to what will happen between the companies now. After Yoox released their press statement company shares dropped, after previously rising when the first speculative report came out.