Billion Dollar Boy
MICHAEL KORS' initial public offering this week
is set to value the New Yorker's label at more than three and a half billion
dollars - meaning a sale could net him a personal fortune of more than $111
million.
The sale
marks the next step in Kors' incredible 30-year rags-to-riches tale, after
taking on new investors when he reached bankruptcy early Nineties - and market
insiders are confident that the price tag is in no way unreasonable.
"It's a
marvellously successful company, and I think an IPO will be very
successful," Laurence Leeds, chairman of Buckingham Capital Management,
said. "They're putting a high valuation on the company and it deserves a
high valuation. The company is very well run, is extremely successful, has a
splendid track record and excellent management."
But the sale
won't mean a departure for Kors: the designer has a contract which means he
will be employed by the firm until his death, he becomes disabled or he is
dismissed "for cause" - and dictates that Kors "shall have
creative and aesthetic control of the products produced and sold under or
bearing the 'Michael Kors' and related trademarks, including exclusive control
of the design of such products, provided that the exercise of such control must
be commercially reasonable". The contract is reported to include a minimum
salary of $2.5 million for life for Kors, WWD reports, plus bonus and other
perks, such as a car and driver and health club membership.
Source: VOGUE - LAUREN
MILLIGAN 05 December 2011
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