Is Off-White about to be bought by LVMH?

Yesterday, independent journalist Astrid Wendlandt, better known as Miss Tweed, published an article on her own site revealing that, very soon, LVMH may acquire Off-White in its entirety, buying the manufacturing license from Farfetch and resolving the knot that has been making ownership of the brand quite tangled for at least five years. To clarify the issue: Off-White was the only New Guards Group brand owned by Virgil Abloh and was produced and distributed by the group through a licensing agreement whose deadline was 2035 but could have been renegotiated in 2026. This agreement had then passed into the hands of Farfetch when the company acquired New Guards Group in 2019. In 2021, while he was being promoted to LVMH's top executive, Virgil Abloh had sold a 60 percent majority stake in the brand to LVMH, retaining his own 40 percent and creative direction, with the licensing agreement remaining in the hands of Farfetch and New Guards Group. When the license expired, from the first day of 2026, Abloh could have taken Off-White's business elsewhere if he wanted. No one could have foreseen, however, the designer's untimely death, which left the brand orphaned (literally) and in the middle of no-man's-land as its ownership was divided. Now, apparently, LVMH wants to finalize its strategy and buy the license from Farfetch (supposedly before 2026) but there may be more to come.

According to the financial statements released last spring, Farfetch's business depends heavily on Off-White's 300 million in annual sales. No less, despite the brand being healthy and even ready to scale its business, this August Farfetch's shares plummeted 40 percent and the results published by the group had suggested little (or almost no) growth for a company that despite its stature had not yet become profitable on a solid and continuous basis, spreading fear among investors. According to Miss Tweed, it is precisely Farfetch's momentary weakness and its dependence on Off-White that would justify a takeover by LVMH, which would buy an impressive but vulnerable corporate network and a highly recognizable brand that it already de facto owns with all its licenses. The deal would expand LVMH's network, which, let us remember, not only owns the brands in its portfolio but through L Catterton has investments virtually everywhere in the industry. Certainly, joining LVMH would represent the acquisition of a new and more powerful platform for the brand and, probably, a rebirth of the brand from a media point of view as well as a strong expansion of its business.