Dive Brief:
- José Neves will step down as Farfetch CEO, as first reported by WWD and confirmed by Fashion Dive.
- Neves, who founded Farfetch in 2008, is expected to stay with the company as a consultant, and the business will be managed by Coupang founder Bom Kim and Farfetch’s executive team, per confirmed reports. No new executive appointments have been announced.
- “As we assessed key priorities and resources across the business, we made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce global headcount and redundant roles,” a Farfetch spokesperson said via email. “This decision secures the future of the business and as a result, Farfetch can now operate from a position of strength and focus on what we do best: deliver exceptional experiences for brands, boutiques and customers.”
Dive Insight:
The shift comes two weeks after Coupang completed its acquisition of the luxury e-commerce platform. Following that announcement, a group of noteholders asked a Cayman Islands court to liquidate the Farfetch holding company and investigate “the circumstances of its apparent rapid and unexplained failure.”
In mid-December, Coupang announced it would purchase Farfetch in a $500 million deal that would allow Neves to stay on as CEO.
However, the decline of the troubled platform began in November 2023 when Farfetch announced it would not release its planned Q3 earnings. At the same time, rumors surfaced that Neves planned to take the company private, which prompted Compagnie Financière Richemont to step back from its previously approved arrangement to sell its YOOX Net-a-Porter e-commerce business to Farfetch in exchange for Richemont shares. When the Coupang deal was announced, Richemont formally terminated the YNAP deal.
Then in January, an ad hoc group of Farfetch noteholders attempted to scuttle Coupang’s purchase. That group, which said in a statement that it owned “over 50% of Farfetch’s 2027 convertible notes,” said that they would lose their investment were Coupang to complete its purchase. However, the group was unable to thwart the deal, leading to its recent petition.
Neves isn’t the only executive to leave the company, according to WWD, who reported that Elizabeth Von Der Goltz, Browns CEO and chief fashion and merchandising officer at Farfetch, as well as Kelly Kowal, head of Farfetch Platform Solutions, have also exited the company.
In addition, Neiman Marcus Group ended its commercial partnership with Farfetch earlier this month and said that its Bergdorf Goodman banner will no longer be replatforming onto Farfetch Platform Solutions. Kering also removed all of its brands, including Gucci and Saint Laurent from the Farfetch marketplace, as reported by WWD.
