Armani is open to involving more than one buyer in the sale of a 15% stake earmarked in founder Giorgio Armani's will, CEO Giuseppe Marsocci said, keeping the luxury house's first ownership change flexible.

"It is not written in stone that it has to be one investor," Marsocci told reporters on the sidelines of a Giorgio Armani fashion show when asked whether the stake could be split among three investors. He said no decision had been made.

The will sets the framework. It calls for an initial sale of 15% 12 to 18 months after Armani's death, followed by the disposal of a larger stake or a market listing. It named LVMH, L'Oreal and EssilorLuxottica as preferred buyers while leaving the door open to other investors of "equal standing."

The Financial Times reported that the group is preparing meetings in the coming weeks with all three, and that one option discussed informally involves splitting the 15% among them, which would limit each group's exposure. "No one really wants to rush, but no one wants to miss the opportunity either," one person close to the discussions told the FT.

The timing is not accidental. In the year after the founder's death, Armani's sales declined 2.8% to €2.2 billion at constant currencies, and industry observers have warned that a continuity strategy risks turning into inertia if the brand does not evolve. The same reporting noted that EssilorLuxottica could consider partnering with other bidders, while LVMH has studied an investment without embracing a listing scenario.

Armani has been adjusting its creative ranks in parallel. This month the group named Dario Vitale, the former Versace designer, as creative director of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani accessories, a category the CEO has flagged as a growth priority.

Armani's situation carries echoes beyond Milan. The group's transition — from a house defined by its founder to one that can stand without him — is a version of the succession problem that many Italian companies built around a founding designer eventually face, and the stake process is the first market test of how investors price that handover.

For operators watching luxury M&A, the practical read is that the sale is real but unhurried. Marsocci said any transaction depends on agreement over "price and details," and the 12-to-18-month window set by the will extends into early 2027. The next visible checkpoint is the start of formal talks, which the FT expects within weeks, followed by the first hard signal of what a minority stake in a founder-built house is actually worth.