Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Italian Billionaire, Ray-Ban Owner Leonardo del Vecchio Dies


Tue 28 Jun 2022 | 08:36 PM
Taarek Refaat

Italian billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio, Italy's second-richest man and founder of eyewear giant Luxotica — which owns brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley and Sunglass Hat — died Monday at the age of 87, according to media reports. Italian.

Luxotica is the largest manufacturer and seller of sunglasses and eyeglasses in the world, in addition to its major brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley, it manufactures glasses for many luxury fashion brands such as Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Bvlgari, Armani and many other brands .

The total net worth of Leonardo del Vecchio and his family is $24.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine. His family fortune ranks 60th on Forbes' list of real-time billionaires.

Leonardo del Vecchio founded Luxottica in northern Italy in 1961 as a small eyewear workshop that manufactures components for other companies. Luxottica eventually began designing its own looks as it continued to grow over the next few decades.

In 1988 she entered into a profitable licensing agreement with designer Giorgio Armani. Over the next decade, the company acquired several major eyewear brands such as Vogue Eyewear in 1990, Persol in 1995 and the American brand Ray-Ban in 1999.

Two years later, the company acquired the American eyewear store, Sunglass Hat. In 2018, Luxottica merged with French optical health giant Asilor to form Acilor Luxottica, the world's largest sunglasses and eyeglasses company.