Ray-Ban heir rebuffed in attempt to buy critical Italian newspaper

By Elisa Anzolin and Alvise Armellini

MILAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The majority owners of Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano have rejected a buyout suggestion from Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, heir to the late founder of Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica ESLX.PA, with whom the newspaper has openly feuded.

The 31-year-old already has significant media holdings in Italy through his indebted holding company LMDV, with a 30% stake in the Il Giornale daily, formerly owned by the Berlusconi family, and ownership of the QN network of regional newspapers.

Del Vecchio said on Sunday he wanted to conduct due diligence before launching a voluntary offer to delist the Milan-listed Societa Editoriale Il Fatto SEIFT.MI, which owns Il Fatto Quotidiano.

The company's seven founding shareholders, including Il Fatto's editor-in-chief Marco Travaglio, responded in a statement late on Sunday saying they were not interested in selling. Collectively, they hold a majority stake.

Del Vecchio has an open feud with Il Fatto, frequently lashing out at its reporting. In an October 22 post on X, he accused them or running a "smear campaign", and called them "rats of journalism".

On Monday, however, the businessman said he wanted to preserve the newspaper's reputation for independence and investigative reporting, and would only focus on turning around its loss-making business.

"Il Fatto has written extensively about us, including critically,” he said. “That is precisely the kind of journalism we want to protect. We are not asking anyone to change their opinion of us. We are simply asking people to consider a project that would secure the newspaper’s future."

SEIF had a market value of about €5.5 million ($6.16 million) at Friday's close of business. Its shares were up 17.3% at 1216 GMT.

The Ray-Ban heir, who is embroiled in an inheritance battle linked to the control of family holding company Delfin, and who has locked horns with EssilorLuxottica's CEO Francesco Milleri, has emerged as one of the most flamboyant figures in the Italian business world.

Earlier this month, he made headlines with an appearance on the Pulp podcast, hosted by a rapper and a YouTuber, in which he spoke about past drug addiction problems and boasted about having slept with more than 2,000 women.

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