What Natalie Massenet quitting Net-a-Porter says about the growth of e-tailers from start-ups to billion-dollar brands

The announcement in March that Italian e-commerce giant Yoox and Net-a-Porter were merging after the former bought the latter for a reported £936 million (HK$11 billion) made immediate headlines in the industry. But this week came the bigger news  that Net-a-Porter’s founder, Natalie Massenet,  is leaving the brand midway through the merger.  

 To some fashion insiders, this doesn’t come as a big surprise. Rumours had been flying for a while that Yoox founder and chief executive Federico Marchetti  (who becomes the new chief executive officer of Net-a-Porter) and Massenet did not  see eye to eye on the direction of the business.

We saw signs of internal struggle earlier this year, when we arranged an interview with Massenet to talk about the merger,  only to have it abruptly cancelled  at the last minute.

The timing of Massenet’s departure  is interesting, however, as she  gave an interview to Bloomberg TV in late June indicating that she was “staying put” in the organisation post-merger.

Massenet, 50,  will receive a payout “in excess” of £73 million to walk away. But looking past dollars and figures, her departure is sad news for many of the designers she’s been working with since she started Net-a-Porter from the living room of her London flat in 2000. Her redefining of the fashion retail industry and chairing of the British Fashion Council has been an inspiration for many fashion entrepreneurs.