How an Orphan Became Italy's Richest Man

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Written By: Sam
Video Created By:
Svibe Multimedia Studio
Editor: Cardan
Media Gatherer: Andrea Rivas
Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images
Music Provided By: Epidemic Sound
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Leonardo Del Vecchio turned eyewear from archaic medical devices into a must-
have fashion accessory.
By the time he died at 87 years old, he’d created an entire monopoly through his
parent company, Luxottica, and had accumulated a net worth of $21.9B. [1]
And it all started with a tiny workshop in a quiet Italian town.
He owned companies like Ray-Bans, licensing deals with Gucci, and health
insurance infrastructure like EyeMed. [2]
However, some say his market share is an optical illusion.
Only 10% of global sales are from Luxottica. Apparently, his crossover with luxury
brands is what makes us think he was a bigger player than he actually was.
Then again, critics point to the mountain of evidence which suggests his vertically
integrated conglomerate controlled the market on so many levels that they could
get away with jacking up the prices.
Not only was he the guy that made sunglasses cool, he was also the guy that made
sunglasses expensive.
Leonardo may have had skills to get hired, but he didn’t have their respect to get
noticed.
But he didn’t care so long as he got his pay check.
300 Lira wasn’t enough to strike it out on his own, it was barely enough to get by,
but by squirrelling it away he’d save enough to study engraving at the Brera
Academy of Art.
By the time he graduated with that diploma he was out of institutions and on his
own.
Thankfully he had everything he needed to stake his fortune: passion, skills, and
hardship.
All he needed now was a way to focus these onto a singular vision. So he set out to
the North of Italy to find it.
It’s time to learn how history works as we look into the life story of Leonard Del
Vecchio.
SOURCES
1. www.forbes.com...
2. www.cascade.ap...
3. www.lemonde.fr...
vecchio-italian-billionaire-and-founder-of-luxottica-dies-at-
87_5988644_15.html
4. www.childrensh...
5. • Leonardo Del Vecchio: ...
6. www.theguardia...
big-glasses-eyewear-industry-essilor-luxottica
7. www.essilorlux...
licensing-renewal-armani/
8. www.essilorlux...
licensing-renewal-armani/
9. money.cnn.com/...
10. • Corporate Consolidatio...
11. www.nytimes.co...
dead.html

[@HowHistoryWorks]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, visit www.brilliant.org/howhistoryworks. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

[@H.LeonideSouza]

Crazy, it is always cool to see history of people that actually became self made successful

[@mwilamakwaya95]

But we criticise our own (in our time)when they do the same.

[@mjbaricua7403]

​@@mwilamakwaya95our own "self-made" are liars who try to emulate the real ones

[@pedrosugliano9762]

This one was really good, loved it, great content, unknown story (to me at least lol) and some solid lessons too, it's great to see economics expertise applied to history. Also since I'm commenting I really like the visuals on this channel, a lot more than those in HMW, since you generally use a lot more historical footage and the stock/meme footage is reduced thus better accentuating it's narrative contribution. Love it, keep it up! (also the newsletter is fire too) Regards from Argentina

[@Sythemn]

Man, I think it's been 20 years since I saw Felix the Cat.

[@lordlynkz]

This was actually more depressing than I was prepared for lol. It's like older generations were just absolutely awful to one another, sheesh. They trauma dump by taking it out on each other and future generations

[@firenter]

Wow, that's a lot of puns per minute!

[@sierrapyatt8748]

I was thinking the same thing

[@Hobnobble]

I just returned two pair of glasses to Costco of all places, because they were pealing after only a few months. For $20 & $25 each. I still own cheap sunglasses I bought in 2010. The industry is completely broken thanks to this one man. The only place left to get good sunglasses (that actually protect your eyes from the sun) for a decent price is to look at the safety glasses industry, but they you gotta get the super-bro wrap around style since they have a shatter/impact rating.

[@quasinfinity]

This is why I wear lame safety glasses. So glad I don't need prescriptions.

[@Drew-y9v]

Keep it up! Much appreciated content.

[@Dave-um7mw]

Imagine if Microsoft bought out Dell, Nvidia, and Intel. Now you have Luxottica.

[@mstr293]

5:30 Turning people’s needs into people’s wants.

[@gavinshickle1814]

At the end of the day no one was forced to pay $800 for sunglasses. People willingly payed that asking price. While I won't say he was a saint, it really falls on the consumer and the fact that enough people were willing to pay that asking price for something they don't actually need.

[@philoslother4602]

Still a monopoly, a fashion brand monopoly is still a monopoly

[@Dave-um7mw]

My wife needed prescription glasses a while back. Sure, we weren't forced to pay almost $500 for them. We also had the option to pay almost $700 for them.

[@gavinshickle1814]

@@philoslother4602 Which doesn't change what I said because I didn't say they weren't engaged in monopolistic practices.

[@gavinshickle1814]

@@Dave-um7mw So you got screwed by other people who were willing to pay outrageous prices for something they didn't need.

[@Dave-um7mw]

@@gavinshickle1814 you said Luxottica engages in monopolistic practices. The monopoly removes the choice, and therefore the responsibility from customers. We got screwed by the monopoly, not the others who also got screwed by it.

[@kyootzee]

He grew up in a world where people did not care about him, so he had no reason to care about people. Only way to get respect was to get wealthy, so that's what he did. If you can't afford glasses you need to see properly, not his problem.

[@luchain771]

Why don't big tech multinationals vertically integrate by mining their own Silicon and rare earth metals, transport everything, bank for themselves and manufacture for themselves as well as having all the software for themselves which they would have on devices that they made almost completely by themselves?

[@viewer-of-content]

because many rare earth materials are super common, but toxic to process. liabilities often outweigh profits. shoving costs onto money loosing government subsidized shell companies is the go to strategy

[@pif5023]

I am pretty sure Apple already thought about that

[@antoniocampen]

The biggest production and deposits of both silicon and rare earth metals are in china. China is not about to let some american companies buy its most strategic resources. Chip production is more feasable but it takes decades to set up and its probably not worth it if you have to pay the workers an extremely high american salary. And then theres the fact that tech companies dont really want to get much bigger so the government doesnt break them up for being monopolies.

[@georgerogers1166]

Costs of vertical integration.

[@Dave-um7mw]

They will one day.

[@giangargo669]

kind of cool and kind of sad, still we are not forced to buy 800 dollars glasses

[@MCorpReview]

They r like Louis Vuitton of glasses.😊

[@deusexmachina4784]

amongst the first. Very cool

[@HowHistoryWorks]

Close enough...

[@sharma_anish]

Looking forward to a great video! - First?!

[@HowHistoryWorks]

Hope it lives up to the expectations!

[@taln0reich]

well, I guess I'm third.

[@Forsthman64]

Pioneer

[@dkaoboy]

I rock a pair of Kirkland eyeglasses. and I'm worth 4 million dollars. So those who spend $200 on sunglasses, you're all losers. Unless you have more money than me, then... you do you.