Ralph Lauren to Sell Off Part of His Stake in Polo

[farou7a]

Ralph Lauren, chairman and CEO of Polo Ralph Lauren, is selling off a big chunk of his personal company shares.

The designer and his family are set to receive somewhere between $750 million and $870 million, depending on how many shares are sold–Lauren says he’ll give up 9 million to 10.35 million shares. (We valued that dollar figure at yesterday’s closing price–$84 per share–which means it could differ greatly depending on the price of the shares when they’re actually sold.)

Lauren is still the majority shareholder in the company, which means his role isn’t changing. Since son David Lauren is being groomed to take over the firm (probably not in a design capacity but most definitely in a leadership capacity) pending his father’s retirement, we doubt much more of the company will be offered up to the public–or other shareholders within Polo.

Lauren is currently 70-years-old, which means his retirement will likely happen within the next decade.

fashionista.com

 

[Boomer]

^ Thank you, F...This has been one of the big questions for some time now- even when he had (at the time) secret brain surgery years ago, there evidently were no plans in place for his absence...He has a wonderful design team around him, and David seems to have developed into a very capable executive, but the thought of RL without him is somehow troubling...

 

[farou7a]

It is troubling. It usually i when the original head of a company or fashion house is no longer in that position.

 

[ettebe]

Sad news.

 

[blackkohl]

What a shame!