Campari CEO resigns five months into role “due to personal reasons”

Campari’s Chief Executive Officer Matteo Fantacchiotti has announced his immediate resignation from current position of Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors due to personal reasons.

“It has been a privilege for me to be part of Campari Group for almost five years and to lead this organization since April 2024,” said Matteo Fantacchiotti.

“While I have now taken the decision to leave, I express my deepest gratitude to all stakeholders, particularly the Chairman, the Board of Directors and the Leadership Team.”

Following the news, Campari’s Board of Directors appointed Chief Financial and Operating Officer Paolo Marchesini and General Counsel and Business Development Officer Fabio Di Fede as interim co-CEOs. Marchesini and Di Fede will also become executive members of Campari's newly established Leadership Transition Committee, which will be chaired by Non-Executive Director and former CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz. 

The Leadership Transition Committee will work alongside the Remuneration and Appointment Committee to identify a candidate for vacated CEO position.

Following Fantacchiotti’s abrupt departure, Campari shares have dropped more than 7% in the past 24 hours. Despite this, Chairman Luca Garavoglia believes Campari to be in a strong position moving forwards. 

“Our growth ambition remains very strong,” he said.

“We have a very solid future ahead thanks to our robust organization, our global footprint, and particularly our unique portfolio made of some of the most admired brands in the spirits industry nurtured by a committed team of professionals.”

At the time of resigning, Matteo Fantacchiotti held 2,988 shares of the Company. According to a media release issued by Campari, the economic terms of the termination of his contract are still to be defined and formalized, reflecting the sudden nature of the decision. 

Prior to taking over the global CEO position from Bob Kunze-Concewitz in April after starting on as Deputy CEO in September, Fantacchiotti was Campari's Managing Director of Asia Pacific, a role he held since joining the company in 2020. 

In September last year, Kunze-Concewitz said he was “very happy to pass the baton to Matteo, a top manager whom I personally recruited and who already contributed significantly to Campari.”

Revealed at the same time as Fantacchiotti’s resignation was the appointment of Jean-Marie Laborde - current member of the Board of Directors of Davide Campari-Milano N.V. and member of the Control, Risks and Sustainability Committee - as Vice Chairman. In the role, she will work alongside Luca Garavoglia, who has been Campari Group's Chairman since 1994. 

“In continuity with the past, we’ll continue focusing on building our brands to keep on generating profitable growth and industry outperformance in the long run, as we have done since we went public in 2001,” concluded Garavoglia.

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