Described as “the perfect fit”, the combination ofluxury online retailers Yoox and Net-a-Porter was finalised on Thursday — but with oneimperfection: the sudden decision by Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet to resign justhours earlier on Wednesday night.
由两大奢侈品电商Yoox与Net-a-Porter(NAP)“天造地设”的合并大戏尘埃落定，但有一点美中不足：就在发布会开始前几个小时，Net-a-Porter创始人娜塔莉氠斯内(Natalie Massenet)却突然宣布辞职。
“We view this departure as a clear loss for Yoox/Net-a-Porter,” said Chiara Battistini, luxurygoods analyst at JPMorgan, as the news broke. “Ms Massenet was the vision behind NAP’sstrong success, being actively involved in the management of the online group and relationshipswith brands.”
“她的离职，我们认为显然是新公司Yoox/Net-a-Porter的损失。”摩根大通(JPMorgan)奢侈品行业分析师奇娅拉巴蒂斯蒂尼(Chiara Battistini)获悉消息后这样评价道。“马斯内女士是NAP功成名就的大功臣，在对这家电商的管理以及搞好与知名时尚品牌的关系方面可谓鞠躬尽瘁。”
Ms Massenet, who founded Net-a-Porter in 2000 — the same year that Federico Marchetti setup Yoox — had stayed at the helm of the business after selling it in 2010 to Switzerland’sRichemont in a deal that valued the London-based group at 350m.
马斯内女士于2000年创办NAP，费德里科氠切蒂(Federico Marchetti)也于同年创办了Yoox。2010年，总部位于伦敦的NAP以3.5亿英镑卖给瑞士历峰集团(Richemont)，但马斯内女士一直执掌NAP帅印。
But her decision to refrain from taking up the executive chairman role at the newly-mergedgroup — Richemont agreed in April to sell Net-a-Porter to Yoox for shares — bears thehallmarks of a personality clash.
但她做出不担任新成立公司的执行主席（历峰今年四月同意出售NAP股权于Yoox）的决定，明显是因为彼此（她与马切蒂）性格水火不容。
Ms Massenet said in a statement on Thursday morning: “Having joined forces with Yoox group,the company will be bigger, stronger and superbly well-positioned under Federico’s leadershipto lead the industry and create the future of fashion.”
马斯内女士在不久前的声明中说：“与Yoox实现强强联合后，在马切蒂的领导下，公司的规模与实力会更上一层楼，将会做行业的领头羊，并开创时尚业未来新格局。”
It was Mr Marchetti who had described the merger as “perfect” — through the creation of theworld’s largest online retailer focused on luxury brands. At that time, Ms Massenet was“looking forward” to their future and ebullient about the group’s conjoined power to “create thefuture of fashion”.
正是马切蒂把两家公司的合并视为“珠联璧合”——理由是此举创建了全球规模最大的奢侈品电商。当时的马斯内对前景充满了无限憧憬，对两家公司合并后“开创时尚行业新未来”的实力信心十足。
However, the corporate marriage between the quiet, autodidactic Italian tech entrepreneurMr Marchetti and the flamboyant, charismatic former journalist Ms Massenet, who is alsopresident of the British Fashion Council, raised eyebrows as soon as the deal was struck.
但是，当两家公司达成合并协议后，以性格沉稳、自学成才的意大利科技创业者马切蒂与个性张扬、魅力四射的马斯内（这位昔日的记者同时又兼任英国时装协会(British Fashion Council)主席）为首的两家公司实现“联姻”后，就引发了业界质疑。
“She’ll have resigned by Christmas,” said one person familiar with the situation on the day ofthe merger announcement. Many fashion insiders agreed that her resignation was only aquestion of time.
“马斯内肯定会在圣诞节前辞职。”宣布两家公司合并的当天，一位熟悉内情者说。时尚界很多权威人士都认为她的辞职只是时间问题。
Further cause for speculation followed in May, when, during a lunch with the FT, Mr Marchettireiterated his ultimate control of the group, as well as the pair’s strikingly differentmanagerial styles.
到了今年五月，坊间的猜测甚嚣尘上，与《金融时报》的午餐会期间，马切蒂除了重申两家公司截然不同的管理风格，还强调自己对合并后的公司拥有终决权。
Pointing out that there would be only one boss of the new group “and that’s me”, he went on todescribe himself as unpopular at Yoox, which runs ecommerce sites for Giorgio Armani,Valentino and
他指出新公司只能有一位老大，“而且这个人就是自己”，并继而称自己与昔日在Yoox一样不受员工待见。Yoox为阿玛尼(Giorgio Armani)与华伦天奴(Valentino)等时尚品牌管理电商网站。
“They don’t like me,” he said of his colleagues. “But that’s OK. I don’t need them to like me.”
“员工不喜欢我。”他这样说道，“但这无关紧要，本人不需要他们喜欢。”
His bullish attitude stood in stark contrast to the culture of shared passion engendered by MsMassenet at Net-a-Porter, where her popularity and charismatic leadership style wereconsidered integral to the company’s success.
他的执拗性格与马斯内执掌NAP时倡导的“共享激情”企业文化形成了鲜明对比，马斯内的巨大声望以及魅力型领导风格是NAP成功的法宝。
Her sororal cheerleading spirit seemed at odds with Mr Marchetti’s results-driven dogmatism— the day after the Lunch with the FT interview appeared in print, she posted on Instagram animage of a heart captioned with an entreaty to be nice to one another. The image wassubsequently removed.
她与员工情同手足、打成一片，似乎与马切蒂只注重结果的独断专行显得格格不入——与《金融时报》的访谈见诸报端后的第二天，她在Instagram上展出了一张带有“恳请彼此心心相印”字幕的心形照片，但该张照片随后就被删除。
While the merger is not jeopardised by Ms Massenet’s departure — and, indeed, Yoox sharesrose 5 per cent on Thursday — her absence leaves the group far more vulnerable, partlybecause of the loss of her networking skills in the world of design.
虽说马斯内的离职并没有影响合并后的公司——没错，Yoox周四的股份涨了4%——但她的挂印而去却让新公司显得越发外强中干，部分原因就是马斯内也随之带走了自己在设计界的人脉。
In conversations with the FT this year, many British-based designers, among them ErdemMoralioglu, Christopher Kane, Roksanda Ilincic, Roland Mouret and Victoria Beckham havetestified to her vital role in helping steer their brands into profitable international fashionhouses.
在与《金融时报》今年的访谈中，包括埃德姆莫拉里奥格鲁(Erdem Moralioglu)、克里斯托弗凯恩(Christopher Kane)、萝克桑达伊林契奇(Roksanda Ilincic)、罗兰穆雷(Roland Mouret)以及维多利亚贝克汉姆(Victoria Beckham)在内的诸多英国设计师都亲口承认马斯内在向国际知名品牌公司推介自己品牌时居功至伟。
Those relationships, developed over her 15 years at Net-a-Porter, may prove near impossibleto replicate, and much of the lustre, glamour and élan she brought to the company leaves withher.
过去15年执掌NAP时积攒的这些人脉资源将来几乎不可能再重现，她的诸多荣誉、魅力以及激情都随着她的挂职而去而基本烟消云散。
Moreover, while the Yoox-Net merger creates a business with a market value of 2.3bn and thebiggest fashion e-commerce site in the world, Net looks increasingly vulnerable within thefast-emerging digital landscape.
而且，虽说合并后的公司市值达到23亿英镑，并成为全球规模最大的时尚类电商，但在迅猛发展的电商行业，NAP显得越来越不堪一击。
Apple’s Ian Rogers has just been appointed head of digital strategy by LVMH, which suggeststhe luxury giant is at last preparing to launch comprehensively into the e-commerce sector.And Condé Nast will soon unveil its newly branded style.com, a luxury e-commerce platformin which the company is reputedly investing 100m.
来自苹果公司的伊恩圠灿斯(Ian Rogers)最近刚被路威酩轩集团(LVMH)任命为数字战略部负责人，此举表明这家奢侈品巨擘终于决定全面进军电商业。康泰纳仕(Condé Nast)新成立的奢侈品电商网也即将揭开神秘面纱，坊间说公司投资1亿英镑巨资创建了这家电商平台。
What next for Ms Massenet? She sits on a sizeable fortune.
She was reported to have earned 50m from the initial sale of Net-a-Porter to Cartier ownerRichemont in 2010. Now, she stands to receive a payout of more than ㄠ 洀, according to FTcalculations.
媒体报道她2010年把NAP卖给卡地亚(Cartier)品牌所有者历峰集团时，进账5000万英镑。如今据《金融时报》估算，她这一次有望进账1亿多欧元。
To walk away from her “baby” must have been difficult, nonetheless, especially since she hasoccupied a near-unrivalled position of authority and influence within the industry for years.
然而，与自己费尽心血打造的公司说再见肯定难舍难分，尤其是她多年来已在业界拥有无人撼动的权威与影响力。
“As for my own future, my entrepreneurial drive is as strong today as it always has been, andmy passion for innovation will continue to be my guide in business,” wrote Ms Massenet in herstatement.
“至于我个人的未来，我的创业劲头依然不减当年，而且我对创新的热情将继续为自己在商业领域指明道路，”马斯内在声明中这样写道。
Some of the wilder speculators have suggested that her departure may see her returning topublishing: Net-a-Porter’s bimonthly print magazine Porter recently won Print Product of theYear at the British Media Awards, and she has made no secret of her passion for journalismand editing.
更有人大胆预测：她离职后，可能重返出版界：Net-a-Porter的双月刊杂志《Porter》最近荣获英国媒体奖的年度最佳纸质杂志奖(Print Product of the Year at the British Media Awards)，她毫不掩饰自己对记者行业以及采编业的偏爱。
Could a move back to Condé Nast, where she once worked on Tatler, be on the cards? It’stempting to see a directorial role for the tech entrepreneur at a company currently reinventingitself as a digital player. We watch this space.
她是否会重回康泰纳仕出版集团(Condé Nast)？她曾在《Tatler》杂志干过。让科技创业的领军人物执掌正转向数字界弄潮儿的出版界，肯定精彩纷呈。让我们拭目以待吧。
