MILAN (AP) — Luciano Benetton, a co-founder of the apparel brand, announced he was stepping down as chairman in an interview published on Saturday with Milan daily Corriere della Sera. He blamed current management for losses of 100 million euros ($108.5 million) that he discovered last year.
Benetton, 89, returned to the apparel brand as chairman in 2018, after having stepped down in 2012. He blamed a CEO hired in 2020 and his new management team for the losses.
“In short, I trusted them, and I made a mistake,” Benetton said. He said he first became aware that losses were compiling last September.
The apparel brand based in the northern Veneto region — known as much for its colorful knitwear as for its once splashy advertising campaigns — has struggled against competition from fast-fashion brands, with unions estimating losses at the group since 2013 at 1 billion euros. Benetton has undergone numerous creative and managerial relaunches in a bid to regain its footing.
Benetton’s term expires in June, coinciding with the board of the Benetton family holding company, Edizione SpA, which is expected to appoint new management.
Edizione, whose chairman is Luciano Benetton’s son Alessandro, has diverse holdings including transport and infrastructure through Mundys, and food and beverage retail, including the Autogrill chain, through Dufy.
The family holding company sold its holdings in Autostrade per l’Italia SpA after coming under intense political scrutiny following the collapse of the Genoa highway bridge that it operated in August 2018 that killed 43 people.
FILE - Luciano Benetton speaks to guests after the Benetton women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, on Feb.19, 2019. Benetton, a co-founder of the apparel brand, announced he was stepping down as chairman in an interview Saturday May 25, 2024 with the Milan daily Corriere della Sera where he blamed current management for losses of 100 million euros ($108.5 million) that he discovered last year. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian Football Confederation will pick a new president shortly before it introduces Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti as the new national coach.
CBF vice president Fernando Sarney, who was named by a judge as the caretaker president after Ednaldo Rodrigues was removed from office, announced on Friday that the vote will take place on May 25, the same day as the last round of the Spanish league.
When Rodrigues was in charge, Ancelotti was expected to arrive the next day at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro to announce his squad for two World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June. The coach has confirmed his move to Brazil at the end of La Liga but has not mentioned when he arrives.
The CBF election will also include eight vice president positions.
“The management of the electoral process will be under the responsibility of an independent electoral commission,” Sarney said in a statement.
Rio-based judge Gabriel de Oliveira Zefiro removed Rodrigues from the presidency on Thursday and ordered new elections “as soon as possible.” The embattled soccer executive is appealing to the country’s Supreme Court to keep his position.
Rodrigues announced the signing of Ancelotti as Brazil coach on Monday. He won re-election in March to remain on the job until March 2030.
Zefiro put Sarney, who asked the court to unseat Rodrigues, in charge of organizing new elections. The judge ruled the agreement that validated Rodrigues’ first term was null and void, and that without it Rodrigues should not have been eligible for his second term.
Sarney told TV Globo on Thursday he will not touch Brazil’s deal with Ancelotti.
It is the second time Rodrigues has been removed from office by a court decision. A similar move took place in December 2023 but the removal was reversed by Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Because of that earlier legal dispute, the confederation vice presidents reached an agreement in January to validate Rodrigues’ first term and clear the way for him to run again.
But Zefiro sided with Sarney, who claimed one of the signatories of the deal, the 86-year-old Antonio Carlos Nunes, was not mentally fit to sign the agreement. The court scheduled to hear Nunes on Monday to evaluate his mental state, but the hearing was suspended only hours after Ancelotti was signed.
Rodrigues has made no comment.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - President of the Football Associated of Brazil Ednaldo Rodrigues, gives a speech after Brazil was chosen to host the 2027 Women's World Cup, at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
