Photo: Business Of Fashion
Net-A-Porter
FOUNDER: NATALIE MASSENET
INVESTMENT: 1999 - 2015
ABOUT NET-A-PORTER
Net-A-Porter was founded by former fashion journalist Natalie Massenet in 2000, at a time when the culture of buying designer clothes online was starting to gain momentum. However, given the implosion of the first internet bubble, securing essential investment for the fledgling e-commerce business became almost impossible. In spite of the challenging climate, Natalie’s determination and drive, coupled with Carmen’s vision and funding enabled the company to grow and to become a global brand.
In 2000 Carmen became the co-founder investor and the largest individual private shareholder of Net-a-Porter and shared equal rights with Richemont when the Swiss luxury brand owner invested in the company in 2002. This lasted until the Net-A-Porter Group, together with Carmen’s backing, sold a controlling interest in the business to Compagnie Financière Richemont SA in 2010 and then again in 2015.
As part of the deal, Carmen made use of her veto rights to negotiate a fair exit for the remaining shareholders – the management team – securing anti-dilution provisions and an exit price 3 times their original investment. Shares were now protected by an independent arbitration process which would determine the value of the company in 5 years’ time, guaranteeing a fair market value for all shareholders, including the founder and the co-founders.
In spite of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA’s decision to sell Net-a-Porter and to merge it with Yoox at £950 million, thanks to Morgan Stanley and Deloitte’s intervention Net-A-Porter’s minority shareholders netted the far superior market value of £1.45 billion.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
In 2000, Natalie Massenet founded the luxury fashion online retailer, Net-A-Porter, building it into one of the world’s most influential fashion businesses operating across retail, media and publishing platforms and in the process shaping an extraordinary experience for the global luxury fashion consumer. In the year before Natalie stepped down from her role following the YOOX Net-A-Porter merger, the Net-A-Porter-Group recorded net revenues of almost $1 billion.
Natalie is now co-Managing Partner of Imaginary Ventures and the non-executive co-Chairman of Farfetch, a global e-commerce platform for luxury fashion. She was appointed to the role in February 2017 to work alongside Farfetch’s founder, José Neves, to help him grow the global brand and strengthen its partnerships in the fashion industry.