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business newsDysfunctional Family Businesses: Gucci
The high price of high fashion.
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Maurizio Gucci was murdered in 1995 following endless squabbles with his wife. By all accounts, he fell instantly for his future wife and killer, Patrizia Martinelli Reggiani. But love and wealth, and even love of wealth, weren't enough to carry the marriage.
It's not an opera (yet), but it’s a movie “in development,” tentatively scheduled to be directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner) and to star Russell Crowe.
You can bet the story plays out like a moral epic tracing the decline of family dynasties.
Guccio Gucci launched the now-famous company in 1922 with a small shop in Florence. His 5 sons seemed to devote more of their energy to feuding and scheming against one other than to building the business.
The next generation wasn’t much better and argued endlessly about money. Still, the company flourished. Gucci became synonymous with quality, design and prestige, creating a fortune that had to be managed and, potentially, divided among the heirs.
Maurizio and Patrizia GucciThe overt signs of trouble were minor, even comical. Paolo Gucci, Guccio’s grandson, outraged his father and other family members by urging them to expand the company worldwide. At a board meeting in 1982, a family member did the logical thing and tossed a tape recorder at Paolo. Stung by what he saw as an insult, Paolo got revenge - he informed the Internal Revenue Service that his father, Aldo, then 81, had pocketed about $7 million by cheating on his US taxes. That landed the old-timer in prison.
Maurizio, Aldo’s nephew and Guccio's grandson, was known as the quiet member of the family. But in 1972, the family was outraged when he announced plans to marry the woman of his dreams, Patrizia. By then, the business had made the Gucci family sinfully rich and Patrizia, while a knockout, was the daughter of a trucking contractor.
Tough luck, said Maurizo, who made it clear that nothing would keep him from his adoring, “pocket-sized Venus.”
The marriage appeared to be an odd mix: Maurizio was shy and Patrizia was bubbly, loud and sometimes abrasive. But for a while money and posh living kept them together. The couple adored their 2 daughters.
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