If you listened real closely last week, it’s just possible you heard a loud cheer coming all the way from Italy. OK, maybe not, but I’m pretty sure they cheered the roof off over at sunglasses giant, Luxottica.

Why?

A $10 million Happy birthday

Last week, to celebrate his 80th birthday, Leonardo del Vecchio, who is the founder of Luxottica, gave a gift to his Italian staff of 140,000 treasury shares in Luxottica Group. These are valued at an estimated $10 million. 

Although Luxottica employs over 75,000 people worldwide, it is only his Italian staff who received a share of the $10 million bonanza. 

In a personal statement, Leonardo del Vecchio said:
“A sincere thank you to the Group’s employees in Italy, those at the heart of Luxottica’s success”. He went on “With this small gesture, I would like to show how important the employees are to me. I truly feel as if we are a family,”

A sunglasses brand that’s flying high

It has certainly been an amazing year at Luxottica. The group recorded a record breaking profit for 2014. In 2015, Luxottica’s first quarter profit has surged a whooping 34 percent. This is mainly down to strong sales in North America. The sunglasses giant has over 7000 stores worldwide. 

Whilst the name Luxottica may not be immediately recognizable to people outside the sunglasses industry, you will certainly have heard of their brands. These include Ray-Ban, Oakley and also Sunglasses Hut.

In case you were wondering, the $10 million birthday present won’t put much of a dent in Leonardo del Vecchio’s fortune. His fortune is estimated to be at least $20 BILLION and he currently sits at number 40 in the Forbes Rich List.

And finally folks!

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