It is an amazing German success story that goes back to 1987: Back then, fashion retailers Susanne and Christoph Botschen opened a store in downtown Munich. The name: Theresa. In 2006 they launched mytheresa.com, which became one of the world’s largest online shops in the industry. Now Mytheresa boss Michael Kliger wants to expand further and become the international market leader in the online luxury business. To do this, Kliger wants to buy rival Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP), which is twice as big, and bring it into the black.
The Swiss luxury goods group Richemont is getting rid of its long-standing problem child. Mytheresa will receive a dowry of 555 million euros for the takeover, which will be used to finance the restructuring of YNAP. In return, Richemont will take a 33 percent stake in Mytheresa. The company sells fashion online from major luxury houses and designers such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Burberry and Valentino. YNAP has an even wider range.

The restructuring of YNAP will take several years, Kliger admitted in a telephone conference on Monday, because the company is making losses. “We will have a lot of work, but the opportunities are enormous. We are creating one of the leading luxury platforms in the world.” Richemont writes off 1.3 billion euros on the sale. In December 2023, the luxury group known for “Cartier” jewelry and IWC watches called off the partial sale of YNAP to the British Farfetch after Farfetch was in turn taken over by the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang.

:“Our strategy is not growth at any price”
A year ago, the Munich company Mytheresa went public in New York. Business is going well during the pandemic, says company boss Michael Kliger. Only the share price is in the basement. Why?
Richemont joined the start-up Net-a-Porter in 2010 and took over the company completely in 2018 after merging with Yoox. “With the sale, Richemont draws a line under its failed foray into the world of online trading of third-party products, which was never its core business,” said Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox. The costs of the exit are bearable. The new shares in the Mytheresa holding company MYTE Netherlands that Richemont will receive are mathematically worth a good 110 million euros.
Mytheresa boss Kliger already has a recipe for reorganizing YNAP. “The root of the problem is the high level of complexity,” he said. The Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter brands are technically moving to Mytheresa’s online platform, which is based on Yoox, which specializes in luxury fashion with discounts, is to be spun off. Kliger left the future of the portal open, as well as possible job cuts.
“The industry has had 18 tough months”
Mytheresa currently sells goods for around 900 million euros a year, Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter have 1.2 billion euros, and Yoox a further 900 million euros. “The merged company has the potential to grow by 15 to 20 percent per year,” said Kliger. The goal is a gross merchandise value of four billion euros in 2029, with a high single-digit operating return on sales. Mytheresa was listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the beginning of 2021, at a valuation of $2.2 billion. With the move, investors kept the company out of the bankruptcy of its owner, US retail giant Neiman Marcus. Last Friday the company had a market value of $367 million. “The industry has had 18 tough months – and maybe twelve more ahead of it,” said Kliger.