Mr De Benedetti’s return may be particularly operatic, but other Italian Methuselahs are also in the spotlight. Stefano Pessina, the 78-year-old billionaire who is both the boss and the biggest shareholder of Walgreens Boots Alliance is exploring a deal to take the struggling American drugstore chain private. On November 11th, an American private-equity giant which teamed up with Mr Pessina in 2007 to buy Alliance Boots, made a formal offer for Walgreens.
Another 84-year-old, Luciano Benetton, is again getting involved in the business of making colourful clothes that first made his family’s name. A revival of the fashion business may help divert attention from the clan’s infrastructure business. This was hurt by the tragic collapse last year of a bridge in Genoa managed by Autostrade, a toll-road operator owned by a holding company the Benettons control.
Ageing patriarchs who are reluctant to bow out, or so much as plan for the day when nature will eventually force them to, are a feature of Italian capitalism. Giorgio Armani is running his fashion empire at the age of 85. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s 83-year-old former prime minister, remains the power behind the throne at Mediaset, Italy’s biggest commercial broadcaster . When Bernardo Caprotti died three years ago aged 90 he was still managing Esselunga, a supermarket chain he founded.
In the past ten years the leadership of companies has been rejuvenated, observes Franceso Giavazzi at Bocconi University in Milan. But, as Raffaella Sadun of Harvard Business School points out, that may be because founders put younger family members in charge as a way of retaining control. “It is not clear their relations are the best people for the job,” she says. Plenty of talented managers are reluctant to join firms where their career prospects would be subordinated to feckless scions.
The younger De Benedettis were taken aback by the paternal foray. Despite a sharp decline in third-quarter profits, they insist that the group needs no restructuring. At least the fatherly bid, however hurtful, could be lucrative. In 2012 Mr De Benedetti gave Rodolfo, Marco and his third son, Edoardo, his stake in■"When I’m 84"
This is great “His offspring have “neither the skills nor the passion required to be publishers”, he lamented”. “C’mon, dad.”
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