Matchesfashion.com founders step down as CEOs

The founders of MatchesFashion, Tom and Ruth Chapman, have stepped down as joint chief executives after 27 years at the helm.

Ulric Jerome, the current chief operating officer, will take over as chief executive, while the couple will become joint chairmen.

"This is a very natural evolution," Tom Chapman told Vogue UK. "When Ulric Jerome joined matchesfashion.com two years ago, the intention was always that he would become CEO. This has now been formalised, and we are becoming executive chairmen. We do, of course, remain completely committed and involved in the strategic development of the business, and how we keep innovating and driving Matches forwards.”

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the fashion retailer was looking to sell, the Chapman’s own almost 70 percent of Matches, with private equity investors Scottish Equity Partners and Highland accounting for the majority of the remainder. However, Tom Chapman denied the rumours in an interview with The Telegraph ,instead stating that an IPO could be on the cards in “four or five years”.

Chapman added: “You build a business for an IPO, but it’s just not a personal journey for me. I’m not a person who would ever want to run a public company.”