Originally Posted by
repechage
He is 88, so retirement is allowed.
of the eponymous brands that come to mind, what has been the observations? Others to add? Many don’t make it beyond the founders.
some return later.
Pinarello-
Eddy Merckx-
Gios-
Masi-
Tommasini is supposedly in the hands of his children (daughters doing admin), and I'm pretty sure Basso has the second generation involved as well (although I don't now how much). Daccordi was already second generation in the '80s, so there must be even more family involved at this point. A lot of the "smaller" Italian brands are lesser known for exactly this reason. They preferred to keep the business in the family and keep things at a consistent level rather than making larger investments (and taking on debt or giving up some share of ownership) in order to boost the profile of the brand internationally.
I can't really see what this investment company plans to do with the brand, unless they are hoping it can become the "Italian" equivalent of Giant, Specialized, Trek... The name Chimera is already a worrying sign, considering what it means, so who knows what the real story is.
When I was in Italy I used to work as a consultant for deals like these, and it usually involved a bit of time spent at the factory/headquarters location. Would have been amazing to have been in on this one.