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The Prada Group announced a deal Thursday to buy Italy’s Versace from the U.S. luxury group Capri Holdings under terms that value the fashion house at 1.25 billion euros ($1.4 billion).Prada said the addition of Versace’s “highly recognizable aesthetic . . . constitutes a strongly complementary addition” to its portfolio, which includes the Prada and Miu Miu fashion brands. It said Milan-based Versace offered “significant untapped growth potential.”The final value of the deal will be adjusted at closing, expected in the second half of the year. It will be funded by 1.5 billion euros in new debt and has been approved by the Prada and Capri Holdings board of directors.“Versace will maintain its creative DNA and cultural authenticity, while benefitting from the full strength of the Group’s considerable consolidated platform, including industrial capabilities, retail execution and operational expertise,” Prada said in a statement.Versace, founded in 1978 by the late Gianni Versace, has been owned since 2018 by Capri Holdings, which includes Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.Capri Holdings paid $2 billion for Versace, but had been struggling in the recent era of “quiet luxury” to position the stalwart of Italian fashion with its sexy silhouettes and loud patterns.Last month, Capri Holdings named Dario Vitale as creative director to replace Donatella Versace, who assumed the role after her brother’s 1997 murder. Vitale came from Miu Miu, the stunningly successful youth-driven brand in the Prada Group.Versace was given the new role of chief brand ambassador in the shakeup, which was widely viewed as setting the scene for the long-rumored Prada sale. Miuccia Prada acknowledged the group’s interest on the sidelines of Milan Fashion Week in February. Colleen Barry, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Tech giant Apple chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tons of iPhones, or as many as 1.5 million, to the United States from India, after it stepped up production there in an effort to beat President Donald Trump’s tariffs, sources told Reuters. The details of the push provide an insight into the U.S. smartphone company’s private strategy to navigate around the Trump tariffs and build up inventory of its popular iPhones in the United States, one of its biggest markets. Analysts have warned that U.S. prices of iPhones could surge, given Apple’s high reliance on imports from China, the main manufacturing hub of the devices, which is subject to Trump’s highest tariff rate of 125%. That figure is far in excess of the tariff of 26% on imports from India, but which is now on hold after Trump called a 90-day pause this week that excludes China. Apple “wanted to beat the tariff,” said one of the sources familiar with the planning. The company lobbied Indian airport authorities to cut to six hours the time needed to clear customs at the Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, down from 30 hours, the source added. The so-called “green corridor” arrangement at the airport in the Indian manufacturing hub emulated a model Apple uses at some airports in China, the source said. About six cargo jets with a capacity of 100 tons each have flown out since March, one of them this week just as new tariffs kicked in, the source and an Indian government official said. The packaged weight of an iPhone 14 and its charging cable come to about 350 grams (12.35 oz), Reuters measurements show, implying the total cargo of 600 tons comprised about 1.5 million iPhones, after accounting for some packaging weight. Apple and India’s aviation ministry did not respond to a request for comment. All the sources sought anonymity as the strategy and discussions were private. Apple sells more than 220 million iPhones a year worldwide, with Counterpoint Research estimating a fifth of total iPhone imports to the United States now come from India, and the rest from China. Trump consistently increased U.S. tariffs on China, to stand at 125% by Wednesday, from 54% earlier. At the 54% tariff rate, the $1,599 cost of the top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max in the United States would have surged to $2,300, calculations based on projections by Rosenblatt Securities show. SUNDAY SHIFTS In India, Apple stepped up air shipments to meet its goal of a 20% increase in usual production at iPhone plants, attained by adding workers, and temporarily extending operations at the biggest Foxconn India factory to Sundays, the source added. Two other direct sources confirmed the Foxconn plant in Chennai now runs on Sundays, which is typically a holiday. The plant turned out 20 million iPhones last year, including the latest iPhone 15 and 16 models. As Apple diversifies its manufacturing beyond China, it has positioned India for a critical role. Foxconn and Tata, its two main suppliers there, have three factories in all, with two more being built. Apple spent about eight months to plan and set up the expedited customs clearance in Chennai, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government asked officials to support Apple, one senior Indian official said. Foxconn shipments from India to the United States surged in value to $770 million in January and $643 million in February, compared to the range of $110 million to $331 million in the prior four months, commercially available customs data shows. More than 85% of the January and February air shipments of Foxconn were offloaded in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Foxconn did not respond to Reuters’ queries. Aditya Kalra, Abhijith Ganapavaram and Munsif Vengattil, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The European Union’s executive commission said Thursday it will put retaliation measures on hold for 90 days to match President Donald Trump’s pause on his sweeping new tariffs on global trading partners and leave room for a negotiated solution.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the commission, which handles trade for the bloc’s 27 member countries, “took note of the announcement by President Trump.”New tariffs on 20.9 billion euros ($23 billion) of US goods will be put on hold for 90 days because “we want to give negotiations a chance,” she said in a statement.But she warned: “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”Trump imposed a 20% levy on goods from the EU as part of his onslaught of tariffs of 10% and upward against global trading partners but said Wednesday he will pause them for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate solutions to U.S. trade concerns.Countries subject to the pause will face Trump’s 10% baseline tariff.Before Trump’s announcement, EU member countries voted to approve a set of retaliatory tariffs on $23 billion in goods in response to his 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that took effect in March. The EU, the largest trading partner of the U.S., described them as “unjustified and damaging.”The EU tariffs were set to go into effect in stages, some on April 15 and others on May 15 and Dec. 1. The EU commission didn’t immediately provide a list of the goods.Members of the EU the world’s largest trading bloc have said they prefer a negotiated deal to resolve a trade war that damages the economies on both sides. The bloc’s top trade official has shuttled between Brussels and Washington for weeks trying to head off a conflict.The targeted goods are a tiny fraction of the 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) in U.S.-EU annual trade. Some 4.4 billion euros in goods and services crosses the Atlantic each day in what the European Commission calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world.”The EU has targeted smaller lists of goods in hopes of exerting political pressure and avoiding economic damage from a wider escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs.The EU is also working on a further set of countermeasures in response to Trump’s blanket 20% tariff on all European goods, now suspended. That could include measures aimed at U.S. tech companies and the services sector as well as trade in goods.Still, von der Leyen said that Europe intends to diversify its trade partnerships.She said that the EU will continue “engaging with countries that account for 87% of global trade and share our commitment to a free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas,” and to lift barriers to commerce inside its own single market.“Together, Europeans will emerge stronger from this crisis,” von der Leyen said.-McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany Lorne Cook and David McHugh, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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