Glasses equipped with artificial intelligence helped EssilorLuxottica achieve the final goal of its late founder Leonardo Del Vecchio last week — a €100bn valuation — capping its transformation from a workshop in the Dolomite mountains to the world’s biggest eyewear manufacturer.
His successor is betting that smart eyewear developed with social media giant Meta will one day replace the smartphone in customers’ pockets, and fuel future growth.
On an earnings call this month, the maker of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses said glasses integrated with tiny cameras and Meta’s AI assistant were one of the strongest drivers of quarterly sales, helping to push up shares and taking it to a market capitalisation of €101.5bn last week.