Agnelli, a jet-setter still known to Italians as “L’Avvocato,” or “the attorney,” died in 2003. Dubbed one of the world’s best-dressed men by Esquire Magazine, Agnelli was treated like royalty by the Italian press, frequently spotted consorting with luminaries such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Henry Kissinger.
Agnelli took over Fiat from his own grandfather, Giovanni Agnelli, and after World War II helped rebuild Italy’s largest manufacturer. Over the years, he added production of railroad cars, airplane components, tractors and trucks. In 1966, he began a 30-year stint as Fiat chairman, buying up rivals including Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Today, almost four- fifths of Exor revenue and half of its profit comes from auto manufacturing.
Elkann, Agnelli’s eldest grandchild, was born in New York, the son of Margherita Agnelli and Alain Elkann, a French-Italian writer. The avid sailor and soccer player is tall and gangly with tousled dark hair and a boyish smile. In public, Elkann comes off as shy, and when he speaks his delivery is slow and deliberate, as if he’s weighing each word.
Elkann has overseen the family fortune since 2004, when Agnelli’s brother Umberto died. Exor was formed in 2009 with the merger of a pair of holding companies, and its shares have risen more than seven-fold since then. The family’s 51 percent stake in Exor is valued at 5.6 billion euros ($6.2 billion).
Leaving Italy?
Despite Elkann’s stewardship of the business, union leaders and even some business executives have criticized him for abandoning the country where the family made its fortune.
“The Agnellis are leaving Italy,” Diego Della Valle, the founder of leather-goods maker Tod’s SpA, said on Italian television after Fiat purchased Chrysler. “And what is left of the family has an attitude I don’t like.”
Elkann insists that Fiat has no desire to quit Italy, and that the company has added thousands of Italian jobs due to its global expansion. As Elkann works on Exor deals, he’s also supporting Marchionne’s campaign to merge Fiat Chrysler -- where he serves as chairman -- with another carmaker to forge a new No. 1 in the auto industry.
Though their overtures have been rejected by their preferred partner, General Motors, the effort is emblematic of a new, broader vision for Agnelli’s heirs, according to Giuseppe Berta, the former head of Fiat’s archives.
“Gianni’s main goal was to preserve the family’s industrial heritage as an Italian manufacturer,” Berta said. With his global dealmaking push, “Elkann wants to make his heritage grow.”