EssilorLuxottica

EssilorLuxottica SA is a Franco-Italian holding company that operates across multiple stages of the eyewear supply chain. It is registered in Charenton-Le-Pont, with dual headquarters in Paris and Milan. The company creates and sells ophthalmic lenses, related equipment and instruments, as well as prescription glasses and sunglasses. The business was formed on 1 October 2018 through a merger that combined the French firm Essilor with the Italian firm Luxottica, and its name blends those two original companies. Since the merger, both Essilor and Luxottica have been restructured as subsidiaries of the new parent entity.

Under the merger agreement, Essilor was set to purchase Luxottica, but Luxottica’s leadership was guaranteed prominent roles in the combined company, along with several board seats. Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luxottica’s founder, was appointed chairman. In the years immediately following the merger, internal conflicts over leadership roles caused friction, but Del Vecchio eventually resolved these disputes.

Before the merger, Essilor was the world’s top manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, and Luxottica was the global leader in eyeglasses. Their combination created a monopoly in the eyewear industry. Essilor brought to the new company its proprietary lens technologies and its existing subsidiaries. Luxottica contributed ownership of major eyewear brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, and Vogue Eyewear; retail chains including LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, and Sunglass Hut; the eyewear insurance provider EyeMed; and exclusive licensing agreements with numerous fashion houses. The company is listed on Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol "EL" and is included in the CAC 40 index, which tracks the 40 largest companies on the Paris Stock Exchange, as well as the Euro Stoxx 50, which covers the 50 largest companies in the Eurozone. In 2025, EssilorLuxottica reported revenue of €28.491 billion.

**History**

**Merger of Essilor and Luxottica** In January 2017, Essilor and Luxottica announced plans to merge their operations. After securing approvals from competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, Brazil, Canada, and China, EssilorLuxottica was officially created on 1 October 2018. Technically, Essilor acquired Luxottica, but Del Vecchio became co-leader of the new conglomerate, which adopted a name reflecting both companies. Luxottica delisted its American depositary receipts from the New York Stock Exchange after the merger was announced. Del Vecchio’s holding company, Delfin, which owned 62.42% of Luxottica, contributed that stake to EssilorLuxottica. Delfin then became the largest shareholder in the new group, holding 38.9% of its capital. The merger created an optical industry giant with annual turnover exceeding €16 billion and a market capitalization of €57 billion. The deal drew criticism from anti-trust researchers, and in late August 2023, Turkish authorities fined EssilorLuxottica €17 million for allegedly failing to meet anti-trust obligations agreed to during the merger.

**Internal war for leadership** Although the merger was completed in 2018, a power struggle for control of the company erupted between Essilor’s old leadership and Del Vecchio. In a March 2019 interview with Le Figaro, Del Vecchio claimed that Essilor CEO Hubert Sagnières “only listened to himself” and had cost the company up to €600 million in potential merger savings. Sagnières responded by accusing Del Vecchio of trying to seize control of the new conglomerate without offering “a premium to shareholders.” Del Vecchio also argued that Sagnières lacked experience in running an eyewear company. The merger terms had given both old Essilor leaders and Luxottica officers equal control, with a plan to select a new CEO—either internally or externally—by the end of 2020. Ultimately, Del Vecchio prevailed, backed by EssilorLuxottica shareholders. He appointed Francesco Milleri as CEO and Paul du Saillant as deputy CEO. Sagnières left the company after the feud, and Del Vecchio, who had previously agreed to limit his voting rights, regained full voting power. A company statement to the Financial Times described the resolution as “the victory of a vision, the creation of an extraordinary business that is at the beginning of what it can achieve.” Del Vecchio himself said his “life-long dream” of building a dominant vertically integrated eyewear company had “finally come true.”

**Later acquisitions** In early 2019, EssilorLuxottica bought German-based Brille24 GmbH. Essilor’s partner Shamir acquired Union Optic, a prescription laboratory that also distributes optical instruments. Essilor also took majority stakes in Indulentes, a leading prescription laboratory in Ecuador, and Metalizado Optico Argentino S.A. (MOA), a leading prescription laboratory in Argentina. In 2019, EssilorLuxottica acquired a 75% stake in the Dutch opticians group GrandVision, which owns Vision Express in the UK and For Eyes in the US, at €28 per share, valuing GrandVision at €7.2 billion. Del Vecchio died in June 2022, leaving $350 million in shares to Milleri. In August 2022, Essilor bought the remaining 50% stake in Shamir Optical Industry. That same month, the company announced it would acquire Israeli startup Nuance Hearing for an undisclosed amount, marking its first major acquisition in that area.