Benetton Death Opens Succession Dilemma at Billionaire Family

The death of Gilberto Benetton, the mastermind of the family’s diversification beyond sweaters into infrastructures, restaurants and financial companies, poses a succession issue for the Italian billionaire clan.

Benetton co-founded the namesake clothing more than 50 years ago with his siblings Luciano and Giuliana, as well as Carlo, who passed away in July. The four had equal stakes in its main holding company, Edizione Srl, and there’s a lack of an obvious successor to Gilberto, who amassed a net worth of about $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.