Giovanni Agnelli (Turin , March 12 1921 - Turin, January 24 2003) was an entrepreneur and industrial Italian , principal shareholder and chief executive of Fiat .
Son of Edward ( 1892 - 1935) and Virginia Bourbon del Monte (1899 - 1945) , was known as Gianni Agnelli, and affectionately known as the Lawyer or Gioanin (John in Piedmont). He married a
Strasbourg woman Marella Caracciolo of Principles Castagneto with whom he had two children, Margaret and Edward.
Gianni Agnelli was above the nephew of Senator Giovanni Agnelli . His father Edward died tragically in a plane crash when Gianni was 14. He attended the Turin Liceo classico " Massimo d'Azeglio " where he received his diploma in 1938 . In
wartime follows a course of education at the School of Application for Cavalry Pinerolo , Near Turin, and partly because of the war, enlisted in a regiment of tank drivers that will be sent to the Russian front and then on to North Africa. After ' armistice is the liaison officer with the Allied troops. In 1943
graduated in Turin Court . The following year, while traveling by car with her sister Susanna in Tuscany , suffering from a serious car accident and is in danger of amputation leg right. In November of 1945 mother also died, the victim of a car accident near Pisa .
As soon as the Second World War, twenty-five grandson of Giovanni Agnelli became president of RIV , the production company founded by ball bearings Roberto Incerti and grandfather in 1906: the 'position, however, has a connotation practically only representative.
In the same year he was elected mayor of Villar Perosa , a country located along the main road shortly after the Sestrières Pinerolo. It is the country where the family lives of ' summer (and where it comes from the same) and it was Villar Perosa the city that also houses the first plant RIV. This is not a very challenging task and Agnelli will keep for almost thirty years.
It is said that at the end of 1946 , almost a year after the death of his grandfather, Vittorio Valletta became undisputed dominus of the company, had a conversation with the young successor of the late senator and owner of the company. Quite frankly sessantatreenne the manager puts the young "master" this dilemma: "There are only two possibilities: either the president of Fiat you do it or I do." The young Agnelli
knows that it faces the man who led the company's boat in stormy waters during the war, in even more insidious than those of the German occupation and then months of turmoil in post-liberation, during which he also stayed for a short time in the nation's prisons, where he was imprisoned on charges of collaborating , but from which he was soon lifted when the proponents of self-management firms they realized that the leadership of an industry is something much more complex, difficult and risky than they have naively imagined at the time and supported. It also knows how to Valletta has enjoyed for over fifteen years of unlimited confidence of his grandfather.
Therefore, his answer is an exemplary expression of modesty, wisdom, recognition of their inexperience and therefore of great intelligence, "But surely you, professor [3] " With this answer the "professor" was earned his managerial autonomy and the young heir to his freedom to enjoy his youth, following a suggestion that, they say, would give the same grandfather: "Take a few years of freedom before diving into the concerns of the company. "In the future, however, Valletta complain several times over by hiding the main shareholder business problems.
Few people in the world enjoy the youth like him. Meanwhile, back in 1947 became President of the football team that his father Edward had brought to the role of "first lady" in Italian football: the Juventus team, which will be cherished for a lifetime. Young, elegant, charming, with lots of free time and much money available, it is a Tombeur de femmes. His restlessness is almost pathological: it travels all the time around the world, attending the most mundane of ' Europe, the most famous people of the jet-setters: actresses, princes, tycoons, politicians (his friendship with John Fitzgerald Kennedy go back to those years).
episodes from his personal life are the delight of gossip magazines. One sentimental parentheses, for more than stormy, which suggests a stable relationship is the relationship with Pamela Digby (1920-1997), already Pamela Churchill, the former wife of the son of Winston Churchill, Randolph. At the end of this report in the summer of 1952 John is the victim of a terrible car accident: running from Torino to Monaco , crashing into a truck . The extract from the wreckage pretty bad shape, the right leg again, and seriously wounded a second time in danger of amputation. The leg will be made many times, but a complex prosthesis will enable him to continue practicing one of his favorite sports: the Ski (and it will be skiing that if the break for the third time in 1987).
It comes out pretty well, but remain slightly but visibly limping for life. It seems that before the influence of moderation by Pamela, then the shock of the accident, had affected very positively to the character of the young. In 1953 married Princess Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto, belonging to an ancient noble family of Neapolitan origin. In 1959 and became president of the 'Financial Institution Industrial (IFI), a pure holding company that is one of the safes and family with IFIL, another family safe, control Fiat. Also becomes CEO of Fiat in the same 1963, a position he must share with Gaudenzio Bono, a "valley" in the round, and in any case the helm of the company remains automotive for now in the hands of "professor" ever president.
First steps, first problems [ change ]
Gianni "inherited" by his grandfather in 1966 the command of the of family after a period of twenty years of "regency" by Vittorio Valletta . Took office at the helm of Fiat at the age of 45 years, he has been virtually alone roles of representation, Gianni Agnelli is located in front of two problems: the execution of the agreement with the ' Soviet Union to build of a factory in a town on the Volga (which will be called Togliattigrad ), for which the Fiat is to provide all ' Autoprominport (the Soviet agency in charge) the establishment is "ready" and know-how for production.
The contract was the last work of Valletta, but the management does not appear particularly onerous: the Russians are wary and picky but they pay well and everything goes.
The second problem is more serious. Yielding to the insistence of the President 's Alfa Romeo Luraghi (and maybe even a few electoral aspiration), which for years has been preaching the inability to make ends meet business without adequate critical mass of volumes production, political power has decided to fund the Alfa to build a plant in south Italy, where they produce a car model middle class in the same market segment more or less the Fiat 128, which will be launched shortly thereafter. According to Gianni Agnelli
nell'orticello Italian car market low-end and the media, already coveted by European rivals due to the gradual reduction of duties within the EEC , there is no room for another Italian competitor, especially if it can rely on money from the taxpayer. But all attempts at political level to tackle this project fail, the site is designated Pomigliano d'Arco, a village a few miles from Naples where already working on the small Alfa Motors Avio , el ' Aerfer , company quasi-medium, which produces parts for commercial aircraft on behalf of large American companies.
The further problem is that, to find the intermediate technical staff in sufficient numbers to operate the plant, the newly Alfasud can only ask the Fiat which removes these characters with attractive salaries (the Piedmontese did not move willingly from their land and then the monies must be relatively very high).
Gianni Agnelli decides to dispose of products that require continued investment and whose profitability is precarious and conditional (not just on the Italian market) choices are often linked to policy decisions. Are then sold to Finmeccanica 50% of Grandi Motori called Ocean Division, which specializes in marine diesel cycle for large ships, which will be transferred to Trieste as initial Grandi Motori Trieste .
Similarly we proceed with the so-called Fiat aircraft, specializing in the manufacture of aircraft, mostly military, often under license from large foreign companies, which is attached to the Aerfer of Pomigliano d'Arco in state-owned companies Aeritalia (now many years later Alenia ). Fiat's participation will remain just a financial fact, because the control is operating Finmeccanica : The remaining 50% of the shares will be permanently alienated by Fiat in 1975 . That's reality for other children. In 1969
was acquired by the Pesenti family, at a nominal price, the Lancia , glorious mark of luxury cars (it was called "the Mercedes Italian") founded in Turin by Vincenzo Lancia in 1907, now in a state of almost decoction. In the same year Ferrari Fiat gives in to the control of his home race car.
The dream of the internationalization of Gianni Agnelli is Fiat . Two years after taking the leadership of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli agrees with François Michelin, which owns the controlling stake of Citroën , which is in dire straits The purchase of the stake with the intention of achieving total control after the French car maker.
The synergy between the two European manufacturers look promising: Citroën is a prestigious brand with good reputation in producing high-end car, the Fiat also in cars. The agreement ends, the top men arrive Citroen Fiat but it gets in the way the exaggerated nationalism of Charles De Gaulle , president of the French republic. Fiat is to be prohibited from acquiring a majority stake Citroën. The misunderstanding among French Italian engineers and technicians make the rest: Fiat, without total control of the company can not impose anything without agreement with the other forces in play, can only invest in modernizing plants and facilities.
Eventually, four years later, the dream is shattered and Gianni Agnelli will give up its internationalization, at least by this route, and the share was sold to Fiat Peugeot . Will be decided shortly after the adventure of an overseas production: Create a factory in Brazil ( Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais ) where it will initially 127 suitably modified for that market (the name of the Brazilian model will be 147).
not have passed Three years since its establishment at the top of Fiat Gianni Agnelli who is faced with a difficult problem: the renewal of the metalworkers' contract of employment ( 1969). The dispute goes to the first half of the year more or less sharply than previously, but at the beginning of September things change radically and as new, unexpected forms of strike : begins what will be immediately baptized hot autumn .
begin carts Mirafiori , Plant Presses: a group are rather small number of staff in the huge galaxy Fiat (more than 200,000 workers), but their actions leave a mark. Strike outside of the unions, strikes are sudden, half a day or less time, but the effect is paralyzing. Their job is to transport body parts from the presses when printed on the assembly line: stop them, stop all production. It discusses the legality of this type of strike, no one knows which way to turn, given the novelty and spontaneity of a form of protest, even before the union disagrees, and justified then finally, reluctantly neck, adjusting, that is also seeking to include this nell'alveo union in protest of the initiative, for fear of losing support and being overtaken by organizations spontaneous and uncontrollable.
The Company does not insist too much on the question of the legality of this form of strike to delegitimize not only the official interlocutor in the face of workers. Then begin to strike form, although placed under the union of all new. It comes in the morning at 8 am at work but to spend eight twenty delegates in the various departments to announce a sudden strike that will start at half past eight and will last until lunch (or similarly in the afternoon). All this rolling now in a factory, now another. Are formed in the workshops parades (known as "snakes") of workers equipped with whistles and other sounds that run the local calling rather abrupt manner with colleagues reluctant to take time off work.
almost always invade even the office buildings, where employees are not known to be highly likely to strike: to work for them becomes impossible in those conditions. After a while 'several violent acts occur: the company looks shocked and then calls discreetly employees who continue to work to strengthen the minds not to give up and avoid damage to people and equipment company. Fiat is under the gaze of all companies: what is the first Italian text does. A test for Gioanin, used to dealing with problems until a few years ago a very different nature.
And to think that from a business perspective things are going well: the economic crisis of 1964 is forgotten, the demand for cars is constantly growing, and now that Fiat can not meet and the times Delivery stretch. In this very ' autumn comes into operation the plant Rivalta di Torino , where will you fit the new mid-size (for those days), the 128, intended to take the place the famous 1100 (mod. 103). It's a car from the modern line and attractive, the price is low and like now, but it must wait until nine months.
The dispute ends in January of 1970 with a contract and very costly for companies with significant concessions that will impact heavily on the regulatory future. Among other things, shall be abolished regional differences for the establishment of minimum wage salary (up to that time the minimum wage is differentiated by province, depending on the cost of living index developed by local ' ISTAT ) so that the new recruit to Milan perceive, with the same framework, the same salary as that assumed in Palermo .
It is estimated that the loss of production during the "hot" amounts to more than 130,000 cars (but some say much more, over 270,000: to see to what terms of time period is considered the "hot"). Meanwhile, the effects of the opening of markets within the EEC makes itself felt and foreign competition increases its penetration in Italy .
In the first half of the seventies Gianni Agnelli faces the first major crisis of Fiat, the largest perhaps from the First World War: the self is no longer possible (the Brazilian investment has not weighed little and early results are disappointing, car sales fall in Italy and foreign competition, thanks to the full implementation of the Treaty of Rome on trade barriers in ' Europe, is becoming more aggressive at eroding Fiat increasing market share) and Fiat can not do without, as has been so far, to draw heavily on credit.
is assumed at that time a new head of finance Company: Cesare Romiti ( autumn of 1974 ) that will reach in almost one quarter of a century spent in Fiat, the highest summit. Auspice Romiti, the Fiat SpA Gianni Agnelli transformed from an industrial to a financial holding company. From this will depend on many holding area, one for each production sector, which will be submitted to the respective operating companies. The trial lasted more than five years and are born like that (we quote only those larger): the Fiat-Allis, agricultural machinery sector, the ' Iveco , industrial vehicles [4] , earth moving machine, the Teksid (foundries, metallurgical products and other). Last, but only in order of time, Fiat Auto (cars and light commercial vehicles).
separation according to the market served and internationalization. The advent of the Lambs at the helm of Fiat also marks a turning point in Fiat's financial policy: the lawyer gets closer to Mediobanca of Enrico Cuccia (perhaps as a result of hardships Fiat's financial and the good relationships between Romiti and Cuccia) Valletta from where his predecessor had always kept at a polite distance. In 1976
two curious events occur: the meteor De Benedetti and the loss of SAI . Carlo De Benedetti is a young entrepreneur rampant: he noted the company of his father, acquired for little money, little by little, some companies operating in the auto parts that do not fare well and has restructured and rationalized by including them in its Gilardini of which has control with 60% of the shares. It makes use of young staff, capable, motivated and hard workers (those without these features may not work with him) and also by 1974 to 1976 was president of the Industrial Union of Torino .
known the character (it's been a school friend of his brother Umberto) Gianni Agnelli of esteem and suggests joining Fiat as General Manager next to Romiti. Excellent negotiator, Carlo De Benedetti, but accepts a pact to become a shareholder in Fiat, Gianni Agnelli does so by buying the Fiat Gilardini and pays with a package of Fiat shares equal to about 5% of the share capital of the same. De Benedetti, who has brought along some loyalists including the brother Franco , start a job after leaving the service of corporate management: in a hurry and pull straight by dropping many heads, even at the highest level.
Then suddenly, at the end of August , decides to leave. The reasons for this about-face after such a short time have never been clearly explained. What is clear however, is that Carlo De Benedetti in four months has made a poor bargain: Gianni Agnelli's Fiat buys back the block of shares at the same price assessment Gilardini when four months before it was acquired by Fiat where it will remain: a great price as we have seen, much higher than its real value (keep in mind that the turnover of Gilardini was predominantly made up of deliveries to Fiat ).
The other event is the insurance company SAI , owned by the Agnelli family. Founded by Gianni's grandfather in twenties riporci policies for its companies and the personal development follows the acquisition of Fiat benefit of automation of the customer who buys the car on installment with retention of ownership and financing SAVA (the company of the Fiat, which provides credit to customers).
share control of the SAI, which is publicly traded, is in the portfolio of one of the "safe family ', the Industrial Finance Institute (IFI). This is the third time the Italian company for premiums and the first in the field of car insurance (very dominant than the other branches armies). This seems to be regarded as its Achilles' heel : rates RC Cars are barred from the Ministry of Industry since the entry into force of the mandatory liability insurance for motor vehicles [5] inflation inflates the cost of repairs, someone begins to think that the insurance business of this branch will nationalized.
In July of 1976 at the meeting is given, the blue, the announcement: the company was sold to financier chatted Raffaele Ursini . It seems that the sale, strongly supported by management at the Attorney IFI, has not resulted in almost nothing in the pockets of the seller: the proceeds of the purchase, which is already known in negotiations with Ursini, almost anything goes in the large share repurchase shares of Fiat ordinary and preference shares, which were in the portfolio of the Company. The Advocate
blitz irritates his brother Umberto, who at the time of signing the contract of sale is located in the USA and returned to Italy, he would be a fait accompli. The sale sparked controversy (although there was no time for these cases, the obligation to OPA): The sale price, they say, was too low and the grunts are wasted entourage Fiat . [6]
Ironically, a year after the Ministry will give insurers the longed-for increase in rates (20%), the SAI shall be renewed, if it ever had dried, it will be a hand (from the manufacturer of buildings Ursini Salvatore Ligresti ) and, like other companies , will be again in a few years hen eggs' s gold . The Fiat will be shortly after a company of its own, but in fact fall in the insurance business until many years after buying the majority stake in the Toro Assicurazioni by the failure of Banco Ambrosiano .
At the end of 1976 the financial problems appear to be resolved through the sale of just over 9% stake to FIAT Lafico (Libyan Arab Foreign Investiments Company), a bank controlled by the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi (in ten years, the Libyan partner, on the other mere investor never involved in the management of the individual operating companies, will come to own almost 16% of the capital Fiat). The sale
casts some confusion in political circles as Western Gaddafi does not enjoy some of the sympathies of the most powerful Western states, headed by the U.S..
crisis reappeared at the end of overbearing seventies (market share of Fiat Auto in Italy, the largest market for the Turin-based company, has fallen from nearly 75% of 1968, less than two years after the onset of Gianni Agnelli as head of the active, 51% of 1979, or nearly 25 points in less than a decade. The rest 's Europe, Spain excluded, things did not go better, we move from an already low 6.5% in 1968 to 5.5 in 1979), but the crisis is overcome thanks to the great success of two models taken from the new general manager Fiat Auto, Vittorio Ghidella : the One and, subsequently, Thema .
Sandro Pertini met Gianni Agnelli Gianni Agnelli
relationships with Italian left, especially with the Italian Communist Party of Enrico Berlinguer , is the essence of industrial relations with the political forces and especially with the unions. The conflict saw
memorably when they succumbed in 1980 a general strike that led to the blocking of the production (the "block" the gates FIAT lasted 35 days) is broken by so-called "March of the Forty" (the number of workers that October 14 of that year marched in Turin claiming the right "to be able to go to work"). This action marks a turning point and a sharp fall of the powers hitherto held by trade unions in Italy, which will no longer, then an equal influence on society and on national policy.
should be recalled that during the years of lead within the union is speculated that terrorists might have infiltrated, and after several murders of officials and executives of Fiat (perpetrated by the Red Brigades , Front Line , Armed Proletarian Nuclei and other groups terrorists), he came forward because the terrible suspicion that the union could have them in some way covered.
This is a time when things are going pretty well, the company, thanks to the success of the new models mentioned above and the reduction in production costs achieved through a strong push to the automation of production processes ( robotics) that leads her to excel in the world in this field, again produces good profits for its shareholders and are also taking new staff.
In the mid-eighties to start a negotiation agreement with the company Ford Europe but then, negotiations have advanced, blurs the agreement (October 1985 ). [7] Shortly after Gianni Agnelli tears at the very Ford purchase from ' IRI ' s Alfa Romeo, the Italian Government decided to sell. The offer is slightly higher than that made by Ford: 1,050 billion lire that Fiat will pay IRI in five years.
Gianni Agnelli also manages to get rid of inconvenient socio Libyan doing the share repurchase that Fiat is in the hands of the Libyans from a "family safe", the ' IFIL ( 1986). The operation, designed by Agnelli and Romiti with Enrico Cuccia, which involves both Mediobanca that Deutsche Bank is a financial maneuver complicated, brilliant but risky that, overall, but can raise a lot of criticism. In 1987
Gianni Agnelli of Fiat blind and the control by the family set up the company limited by shares Giovanni Agnelli, which comprises the holdings of many components now the family. This "technique" will soon be used by other industries.
Inexplicably, at the end of 1988 , the maker of the powerful revival of the Italian and European markets, Vittorio Ghidella, is abruptly removed from Fiat after being on the shields for a long time. Two years earlier, Gianni Agnelli, thrilled with the results obtained from Ghidella, had publicly referred to as the future successor to Cesare Romiti. [8] Meanwhile begins to weigh in Italy fearsome opponents of competition: the Japanese.
At the beginning of the 2000s , Gianni Agnelli, Fiat believes that will not make it alone to face the challenge of the world market (between 1990 and 2001 market share Fiat in Italy has declined by about 53% to about 35% and Europe from just over 14% to less than 10%), open to Americans of General Motors (GM) with which concludes an agreement: the great American company buys 20% of Fiat Auto by paying with shares (a reserved capital increase at Fiat) worth in total about 5% of capital GM and Fiat gets a clause "put", in this case the right, exercisable after two years and within eight subsequent to transfer to GM the remaining 80% of Fiat Auto at a price to be determined with certain predefined criteria, and that GM will be obliged to purchase. There will also be mergers between companies formed by Fiat Auto plants and factories Opel, GM's European subsidiary, based in Germany .
The agreement breaks down after four years (both Fiat and GM are in big trouble) with an opposite result from what was originally assumed: it is the Fiat Auto to GM, which is sold in their entirety, but is GM to avoid paying the exercise of the right to transfer (clause "put") by Fiat, yielding to the latter, the GM shares of Fiat Auto. The joint operating companies, already established and operating, is dissolved and everyone takes his share. The economic crisis of the automotive group Fiat Agnelli is already in the fight against cancer and he can now take part only in a limited way to the unfolding of events.
course, a character who has occupied for so long scenes of industrial life, financial and even secular nation, has not only admirers but also many detractors: the latter argue that in all his activities would put the interests of the Agnelli family and his personal interest in any collective, sometimes even at the expense of national interests. Fiat, some say, has always been treated by the Italian Government with a kind of institutional reverence, almost as if it were given some sort of legal and tax immunity. Lambs never replied to these accusations.
's first post is public received him in 1961 when, during the celebrations for the centenary of the unification of Italy was appointed President of the International Exhibition of work.
early 1976 the then secretary of the Republican Party Ugo La Malfa Gianni Agnelli offered a job in the party lists for the parliamentary elections which took place in June and at first it seemed that Gianni Agnelli had some intention to accede to the proposal, but then declined in the meantime had his brother Umberto accepted the nomination in Christian Democrats (Umberto will then be elected). In 1991
was appointed senator for life by the then President of the Republic Francesco Cossiga : Agnelli joined the group for self-government and was admitted to the Defence Committee of Senate . In 1994 was among the three senators for life (along with John Leone and at the same Cossiga) to vote confidence in Berlusconi's first government : for the first time Italy in the history of those particular parliamentary presidential nomination were decisive in the formation of an executive. In 2000
was admitted as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee , a position he held until his death.
Also known as the lawyer, without ever having had dealings with the legal career, Agnelli represented the most important figure, and together the most prestigious of ' Italian economy, a symbol of capitalism during the second half of the twentieth century , and was regarded by some as the real "King of Italy."
an educated man, with a sense of 'humor sui generis, was probably the most famous Italian abroad, linked by bonds of thickness with international bankers and politicians (some of whom, like Henry Kissinger, also became his personal friends).
was also considered a person's fashion: in 2002 left a legacy to Turin in pictures, so donating his extraordinary art gallery the enjoyment of citizens.
Son of Edward ( 1892 - 1935) and Virginia Bourbon del Monte (1899 - 1945) , was known as Gianni Agnelli, and affectionately known as the Lawyer or Gioanin (John in Piedmont). He married a
Strasbourg woman Marella Caracciolo of Principles Castagneto with whom he had two children, Margaret and Edward.
Gianni Agnelli was above the nephew of Senator Giovanni Agnelli . His father Edward died tragically in a plane crash when Gianni was 14. He attended the Turin Liceo classico " Massimo d'Azeglio " where he received his diploma in 1938 . In
wartime follows a course of education at the School of Application for Cavalry Pinerolo , Near Turin, and partly because of the war, enlisted in a regiment of tank drivers that will be sent to the Russian front and then on to North Africa. After ' armistice is the liaison officer with the Allied troops. In 1943
graduated in Turin Court . The following year, while traveling by car with her sister Susanna in Tuscany , suffering from a serious car accident and is in danger of amputation leg right. In November of 1945 mother also died, the victim of a car accident near Pisa .
As soon as the Second World War, twenty-five grandson of Giovanni Agnelli became president of RIV , the production company founded by ball bearings Roberto Incerti and grandfather in 1906: the 'position, however, has a connotation practically only representative.
In the same year he was elected mayor of Villar Perosa , a country located along the main road shortly after the Sestrières Pinerolo. It is the country where the family lives of ' summer (and where it comes from the same) and it was Villar Perosa the city that also houses the first plant RIV. This is not a very challenging task and Agnelli will keep for almost thirty years.
It is said that at the end of 1946 , almost a year after the death of his grandfather, Vittorio Valletta became undisputed dominus of the company, had a conversation with the young successor of the late senator and owner of the company. Quite frankly sessantatreenne the manager puts the young "master" this dilemma: "There are only two possibilities: either the president of Fiat you do it or I do." The young Agnelli
knows that it faces the man who led the company's boat in stormy waters during the war, in even more insidious than those of the German occupation and then months of turmoil in post-liberation, during which he also stayed for a short time in the nation's prisons, where he was imprisoned on charges of collaborating , but from which he was soon lifted when the proponents of self-management firms they realized that the leadership of an industry is something much more complex, difficult and risky than they have naively imagined at the time and supported. It also knows how to Valletta has enjoyed for over fifteen years of unlimited confidence of his grandfather.
Therefore, his answer is an exemplary expression of modesty, wisdom, recognition of their inexperience and therefore of great intelligence, "But surely you, professor [3] " With this answer the "professor" was earned his managerial autonomy and the young heir to his freedom to enjoy his youth, following a suggestion that, they say, would give the same grandfather: "Take a few years of freedom before diving into the concerns of the company. "In the future, however, Valletta complain several times over by hiding the main shareholder business problems.
Few people in the world enjoy the youth like him. Meanwhile, back in 1947 became President of the football team that his father Edward had brought to the role of "first lady" in Italian football: the Juventus team, which will be cherished for a lifetime. Young, elegant, charming, with lots of free time and much money available, it is a Tombeur de femmes. His restlessness is almost pathological: it travels all the time around the world, attending the most mundane of ' Europe, the most famous people of the jet-setters: actresses, princes, tycoons, politicians (his friendship with John Fitzgerald Kennedy go back to those years).
episodes from his personal life are the delight of gossip magazines. One sentimental parentheses, for more than stormy, which suggests a stable relationship is the relationship with Pamela Digby (1920-1997), already Pamela Churchill, the former wife of the son of Winston Churchill, Randolph. At the end of this report in the summer of 1952 John is the victim of a terrible car accident: running from Torino to Monaco , crashing into a truck . The extract from the wreckage pretty bad shape, the right leg again, and seriously wounded a second time in danger of amputation. The leg will be made many times, but a complex prosthesis will enable him to continue practicing one of his favorite sports: the Ski (and it will be skiing that if the break for the third time in 1987).
It comes out pretty well, but remain slightly but visibly limping for life. It seems that before the influence of moderation by Pamela, then the shock of the accident, had affected very positively to the character of the young. In 1953 married Princess Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto, belonging to an ancient noble family of Neapolitan origin. In 1959 and became president of the 'Financial Institution Industrial (IFI), a pure holding company that is one of the safes and family with IFIL, another family safe, control Fiat. Also becomes CEO of Fiat in the same 1963, a position he must share with Gaudenzio Bono, a "valley" in the round, and in any case the helm of the company remains automotive for now in the hands of "professor" ever president.
First steps, first problems [ change ]
Gianni "inherited" by his grandfather in 1966 the command of the of family after a period of twenty years of "regency" by Vittorio Valletta . Took office at the helm of Fiat at the age of 45 years, he has been virtually alone roles of representation, Gianni Agnelli is located in front of two problems: the execution of the agreement with the ' Soviet Union to build of a factory in a town on the Volga (which will be called Togliattigrad ), for which the Fiat is to provide all ' Autoprominport (the Soviet agency in charge) the establishment is "ready" and know-how for production.
The contract was the last work of Valletta, but the management does not appear particularly onerous: the Russians are wary and picky but they pay well and everything goes.
The second problem is more serious. Yielding to the insistence of the President 's Alfa Romeo Luraghi (and maybe even a few electoral aspiration), which for years has been preaching the inability to make ends meet business without adequate critical mass of volumes production, political power has decided to fund the Alfa to build a plant in south Italy, where they produce a car model middle class in the same market segment more or less the Fiat 128, which will be launched shortly thereafter. According to Gianni Agnelli
nell'orticello Italian car market low-end and the media, already coveted by European rivals due to the gradual reduction of duties within the EEC , there is no room for another Italian competitor, especially if it can rely on money from the taxpayer. But all attempts at political level to tackle this project fail, the site is designated Pomigliano d'Arco, a village a few miles from Naples where already working on the small Alfa Motors Avio , el ' Aerfer , company quasi-medium, which produces parts for commercial aircraft on behalf of large American companies.
The further problem is that, to find the intermediate technical staff in sufficient numbers to operate the plant, the newly Alfasud can only ask the Fiat which removes these characters with attractive salaries (the Piedmontese did not move willingly from their land and then the monies must be relatively very high).
Gianni Agnelli decides to dispose of products that require continued investment and whose profitability is precarious and conditional (not just on the Italian market) choices are often linked to policy decisions. Are then sold to Finmeccanica 50% of Grandi Motori called Ocean Division, which specializes in marine diesel cycle for large ships, which will be transferred to Trieste as initial Grandi Motori Trieste .
Similarly we proceed with the so-called Fiat aircraft, specializing in the manufacture of aircraft, mostly military, often under license from large foreign companies, which is attached to the Aerfer of Pomigliano d'Arco in state-owned companies Aeritalia (now many years later Alenia ). Fiat's participation will remain just a financial fact, because the control is operating Finmeccanica : The remaining 50% of the shares will be permanently alienated by Fiat in 1975 . That's reality for other children. In 1969
was acquired by the Pesenti family, at a nominal price, the Lancia , glorious mark of luxury cars (it was called "the Mercedes Italian") founded in Turin by Vincenzo Lancia in 1907, now in a state of almost decoction. In the same year Ferrari Fiat gives in to the control of his home race car.
The dream of the internationalization of Gianni Agnelli is Fiat . Two years after taking the leadership of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli agrees with François Michelin, which owns the controlling stake of Citroën , which is in dire straits The purchase of the stake with the intention of achieving total control after the French car maker.
The synergy between the two European manufacturers look promising: Citroën is a prestigious brand with good reputation in producing high-end car, the Fiat also in cars. The agreement ends, the top men arrive Citroen Fiat but it gets in the way the exaggerated nationalism of Charles De Gaulle , president of the French republic. Fiat is to be prohibited from acquiring a majority stake Citroën. The misunderstanding among French Italian engineers and technicians make the rest: Fiat, without total control of the company can not impose anything without agreement with the other forces in play, can only invest in modernizing plants and facilities.
Eventually, four years later, the dream is shattered and Gianni Agnelli will give up its internationalization, at least by this route, and the share was sold to Fiat Peugeot . Will be decided shortly after the adventure of an overseas production: Create a factory in Brazil ( Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais ) where it will initially 127 suitably modified for that market (the name of the Brazilian model will be 147).
not have passed Three years since its establishment at the top of Fiat Gianni Agnelli who is faced with a difficult problem: the renewal of the metalworkers' contract of employment ( 1969). The dispute goes to the first half of the year more or less sharply than previously, but at the beginning of September things change radically and as new, unexpected forms of strike : begins what will be immediately baptized hot autumn .
begin carts Mirafiori , Plant Presses: a group are rather small number of staff in the huge galaxy Fiat (more than 200,000 workers), but their actions leave a mark. Strike outside of the unions, strikes are sudden, half a day or less time, but the effect is paralyzing. Their job is to transport body parts from the presses when printed on the assembly line: stop them, stop all production. It discusses the legality of this type of strike, no one knows which way to turn, given the novelty and spontaneity of a form of protest, even before the union disagrees, and justified then finally, reluctantly neck, adjusting, that is also seeking to include this nell'alveo union in protest of the initiative, for fear of losing support and being overtaken by organizations spontaneous and uncontrollable.
The Company does not insist too much on the question of the legality of this form of strike to delegitimize not only the official interlocutor in the face of workers. Then begin to strike form, although placed under the union of all new. It comes in the morning at 8 am at work but to spend eight twenty delegates in the various departments to announce a sudden strike that will start at half past eight and will last until lunch (or similarly in the afternoon). All this rolling now in a factory, now another. Are formed in the workshops parades (known as "snakes") of workers equipped with whistles and other sounds that run the local calling rather abrupt manner with colleagues reluctant to take time off work.
almost always invade even the office buildings, where employees are not known to be highly likely to strike: to work for them becomes impossible in those conditions. After a while 'several violent acts occur: the company looks shocked and then calls discreetly employees who continue to work to strengthen the minds not to give up and avoid damage to people and equipment company. Fiat is under the gaze of all companies: what is the first Italian text does. A test for Gioanin, used to dealing with problems until a few years ago a very different nature.
And to think that from a business perspective things are going well: the economic crisis of 1964 is forgotten, the demand for cars is constantly growing, and now that Fiat can not meet and the times Delivery stretch. In this very ' autumn comes into operation the plant Rivalta di Torino , where will you fit the new mid-size (for those days), the 128, intended to take the place the famous 1100 (mod. 103). It's a car from the modern line and attractive, the price is low and like now, but it must wait until nine months.
The dispute ends in January of 1970 with a contract and very costly for companies with significant concessions that will impact heavily on the regulatory future. Among other things, shall be abolished regional differences for the establishment of minimum wage salary (up to that time the minimum wage is differentiated by province, depending on the cost of living index developed by local ' ISTAT ) so that the new recruit to Milan perceive, with the same framework, the same salary as that assumed in Palermo .
It is estimated that the loss of production during the "hot" amounts to more than 130,000 cars (but some say much more, over 270,000: to see to what terms of time period is considered the "hot"). Meanwhile, the effects of the opening of markets within the EEC makes itself felt and foreign competition increases its penetration in Italy .
In the first half of the seventies Gianni Agnelli faces the first major crisis of Fiat, the largest perhaps from the First World War: the self is no longer possible (the Brazilian investment has not weighed little and early results are disappointing, car sales fall in Italy and foreign competition, thanks to the full implementation of the Treaty of Rome on trade barriers in ' Europe, is becoming more aggressive at eroding Fiat increasing market share) and Fiat can not do without, as has been so far, to draw heavily on credit.
is assumed at that time a new head of finance Company: Cesare Romiti ( autumn of 1974 ) that will reach in almost one quarter of a century spent in Fiat, the highest summit. Auspice Romiti, the Fiat SpA Gianni Agnelli transformed from an industrial to a financial holding company. From this will depend on many holding area, one for each production sector, which will be submitted to the respective operating companies. The trial lasted more than five years and are born like that (we quote only those larger): the Fiat-Allis, agricultural machinery sector, the ' Iveco , industrial vehicles [4] , earth moving machine, the Teksid (foundries, metallurgical products and other). Last, but only in order of time, Fiat Auto (cars and light commercial vehicles).
separation according to the market served and internationalization. The advent of the Lambs at the helm of Fiat also marks a turning point in Fiat's financial policy: the lawyer gets closer to Mediobanca of Enrico Cuccia (perhaps as a result of hardships Fiat's financial and the good relationships between Romiti and Cuccia) Valletta from where his predecessor had always kept at a polite distance. In 1976
two curious events occur: the meteor De Benedetti and the loss of SAI . Carlo De Benedetti is a young entrepreneur rampant: he noted the company of his father, acquired for little money, little by little, some companies operating in the auto parts that do not fare well and has restructured and rationalized by including them in its Gilardini of which has control with 60% of the shares. It makes use of young staff, capable, motivated and hard workers (those without these features may not work with him) and also by 1974 to 1976 was president of the Industrial Union of Torino .
known the character (it's been a school friend of his brother Umberto) Gianni Agnelli of esteem and suggests joining Fiat as General Manager next to Romiti. Excellent negotiator, Carlo De Benedetti, but accepts a pact to become a shareholder in Fiat, Gianni Agnelli does so by buying the Fiat Gilardini and pays with a package of Fiat shares equal to about 5% of the share capital of the same. De Benedetti, who has brought along some loyalists including the brother Franco , start a job after leaving the service of corporate management: in a hurry and pull straight by dropping many heads, even at the highest level.
Then suddenly, at the end of August , decides to leave. The reasons for this about-face after such a short time have never been clearly explained. What is clear however, is that Carlo De Benedetti in four months has made a poor bargain: Gianni Agnelli's Fiat buys back the block of shares at the same price assessment Gilardini when four months before it was acquired by Fiat where it will remain: a great price as we have seen, much higher than its real value (keep in mind that the turnover of Gilardini was predominantly made up of deliveries to Fiat ).
The other event is the insurance company SAI , owned by the Agnelli family. Founded by Gianni's grandfather in twenties riporci policies for its companies and the personal development follows the acquisition of Fiat benefit of automation of the customer who buys the car on installment with retention of ownership and financing SAVA (the company of the Fiat, which provides credit to customers).
share control of the SAI, which is publicly traded, is in the portfolio of one of the "safe family ', the Industrial Finance Institute (IFI). This is the third time the Italian company for premiums and the first in the field of car insurance (very dominant than the other branches armies). This seems to be regarded as its Achilles' heel : rates RC Cars are barred from the Ministry of Industry since the entry into force of the mandatory liability insurance for motor vehicles [5] inflation inflates the cost of repairs, someone begins to think that the insurance business of this branch will nationalized.
In July of 1976 at the meeting is given, the blue, the announcement: the company was sold to financier chatted Raffaele Ursini . It seems that the sale, strongly supported by management at the Attorney IFI, has not resulted in almost nothing in the pockets of the seller: the proceeds of the purchase, which is already known in negotiations with Ursini, almost anything goes in the large share repurchase shares of Fiat ordinary and preference shares, which were in the portfolio of the Company. The Advocate
blitz irritates his brother Umberto, who at the time of signing the contract of sale is located in the USA and returned to Italy, he would be a fait accompli. The sale sparked controversy (although there was no time for these cases, the obligation to OPA): The sale price, they say, was too low and the grunts are wasted entourage Fiat . [6]
Ironically, a year after the Ministry will give insurers the longed-for increase in rates (20%), the SAI shall be renewed, if it ever had dried, it will be a hand (from the manufacturer of buildings Ursini Salvatore Ligresti ) and, like other companies , will be again in a few years hen eggs' s gold . The Fiat will be shortly after a company of its own, but in fact fall in the insurance business until many years after buying the majority stake in the Toro Assicurazioni by the failure of Banco Ambrosiano .
At the end of 1976 the financial problems appear to be resolved through the sale of just over 9% stake to FIAT Lafico (Libyan Arab Foreign Investiments Company), a bank controlled by the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi (in ten years, the Libyan partner, on the other mere investor never involved in the management of the individual operating companies, will come to own almost 16% of the capital Fiat). The sale
casts some confusion in political circles as Western Gaddafi does not enjoy some of the sympathies of the most powerful Western states, headed by the U.S..
crisis reappeared at the end of overbearing seventies (market share of Fiat Auto in Italy, the largest market for the Turin-based company, has fallen from nearly 75% of 1968, less than two years after the onset of Gianni Agnelli as head of the active, 51% of 1979, or nearly 25 points in less than a decade. The rest 's Europe, Spain excluded, things did not go better, we move from an already low 6.5% in 1968 to 5.5 in 1979), but the crisis is overcome thanks to the great success of two models taken from the new general manager Fiat Auto, Vittorio Ghidella : the One and, subsequently, Thema .
Sandro Pertini met Gianni Agnelli Gianni Agnelli
relationships with Italian left, especially with the Italian Communist Party of Enrico Berlinguer , is the essence of industrial relations with the political forces and especially with the unions. The conflict saw
memorably when they succumbed in 1980 a general strike that led to the blocking of the production (the "block" the gates FIAT lasted 35 days) is broken by so-called "March of the Forty" (the number of workers that October 14 of that year marched in Turin claiming the right "to be able to go to work"). This action marks a turning point and a sharp fall of the powers hitherto held by trade unions in Italy, which will no longer, then an equal influence on society and on national policy.
should be recalled that during the years of lead within the union is speculated that terrorists might have infiltrated, and after several murders of officials and executives of Fiat (perpetrated by the Red Brigades , Front Line , Armed Proletarian Nuclei and other groups terrorists), he came forward because the terrible suspicion that the union could have them in some way covered.
This is a time when things are going pretty well, the company, thanks to the success of the new models mentioned above and the reduction in production costs achieved through a strong push to the automation of production processes ( robotics) that leads her to excel in the world in this field, again produces good profits for its shareholders and are also taking new staff.
In the mid-eighties to start a negotiation agreement with the company Ford Europe but then, negotiations have advanced, blurs the agreement (October 1985 ). [7] Shortly after Gianni Agnelli tears at the very Ford purchase from ' IRI ' s Alfa Romeo, the Italian Government decided to sell. The offer is slightly higher than that made by Ford: 1,050 billion lire that Fiat will pay IRI in five years.
Gianni Agnelli also manages to get rid of inconvenient socio Libyan doing the share repurchase that Fiat is in the hands of the Libyans from a "family safe", the ' IFIL ( 1986). The operation, designed by Agnelli and Romiti with Enrico Cuccia, which involves both Mediobanca that Deutsche Bank is a financial maneuver complicated, brilliant but risky that, overall, but can raise a lot of criticism. In 1987
Gianni Agnelli of Fiat blind and the control by the family set up the company limited by shares Giovanni Agnelli, which comprises the holdings of many components now the family. This "technique" will soon be used by other industries.
Inexplicably, at the end of 1988 , the maker of the powerful revival of the Italian and European markets, Vittorio Ghidella, is abruptly removed from Fiat after being on the shields for a long time. Two years earlier, Gianni Agnelli, thrilled with the results obtained from Ghidella, had publicly referred to as the future successor to Cesare Romiti. [8] Meanwhile begins to weigh in Italy fearsome opponents of competition: the Japanese.
At the beginning of the 2000s , Gianni Agnelli, Fiat believes that will not make it alone to face the challenge of the world market (between 1990 and 2001 market share Fiat in Italy has declined by about 53% to about 35% and Europe from just over 14% to less than 10%), open to Americans of General Motors (GM) with which concludes an agreement: the great American company buys 20% of Fiat Auto by paying with shares (a reserved capital increase at Fiat) worth in total about 5% of capital GM and Fiat gets a clause "put", in this case the right, exercisable after two years and within eight subsequent to transfer to GM the remaining 80% of Fiat Auto at a price to be determined with certain predefined criteria, and that GM will be obliged to purchase. There will also be mergers between companies formed by Fiat Auto plants and factories Opel, GM's European subsidiary, based in Germany .
The agreement breaks down after four years (both Fiat and GM are in big trouble) with an opposite result from what was originally assumed: it is the Fiat Auto to GM, which is sold in their entirety, but is GM to avoid paying the exercise of the right to transfer (clause "put") by Fiat, yielding to the latter, the GM shares of Fiat Auto. The joint operating companies, already established and operating, is dissolved and everyone takes his share. The economic crisis of the automotive group Fiat Agnelli is already in the fight against cancer and he can now take part only in a limited way to the unfolding of events.
course, a character who has occupied for so long scenes of industrial life, financial and even secular nation, has not only admirers but also many detractors: the latter argue that in all his activities would put the interests of the Agnelli family and his personal interest in any collective, sometimes even at the expense of national interests. Fiat, some say, has always been treated by the Italian Government with a kind of institutional reverence, almost as if it were given some sort of legal and tax immunity. Lambs never replied to these accusations.
's first post is public received him in 1961 when, during the celebrations for the centenary of the unification of Italy was appointed President of the International Exhibition of work.
early 1976 the then secretary of the Republican Party Ugo La Malfa Gianni Agnelli offered a job in the party lists for the parliamentary elections which took place in June and at first it seemed that Gianni Agnelli had some intention to accede to the proposal, but then declined in the meantime had his brother Umberto accepted the nomination in Christian Democrats (Umberto will then be elected). In 1991
was appointed senator for life by the then President of the Republic Francesco Cossiga : Agnelli joined the group for self-government and was admitted to the Defence Committee of Senate . In 1994 was among the three senators for life (along with John Leone and at the same Cossiga) to vote confidence in Berlusconi's first government : for the first time Italy in the history of those particular parliamentary presidential nomination were decisive in the formation of an executive. In 2000
was admitted as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee , a position he held until his death.
Also known as the lawyer, without ever having had dealings with the legal career, Agnelli represented the most important figure, and together the most prestigious of ' Italian economy, a symbol of capitalism during the second half of the twentieth century , and was regarded by some as the real "King of Italy."
an educated man, with a sense of 'humor sui generis, was probably the most famous Italian abroad, linked by bonds of thickness with international bankers and politicians (some of whom, like Henry Kissinger, also became his personal friends).
was also considered a person's fashion: in 2002 left a legacy to Turin in pictures, so donating his extraordinary art gallery the enjoyment of citizens.
