THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

NET-A-PORTER.COM

Here on our New York kitchen table lies the Fall Fashion Issue of New York Magazine featuring a large piece about Net-A-Porter.com. Nice, I thought, but while reading I came across all sorts of things that I never knew and you probably didn't either. So because I'm not the meanest, I'm sharing them with you now, so you can casually drop the facts below at the next gathering or dinner.

– The company was founded in 1999 by Natalie Massenet, at her kitchen table. Her idea: real luxury didn't have to be incompatible with the then-emerging phenomenon of ‘the internet.’

– Natalie's mother was a model for Chanel and her father was a well-known PR manager in Hollywood.

– After a brief career in the magazine world (her big dream), she scraped together £1.2 million from her then-husband and a few friends, and started Net-A-Porter.com.

– In 2002 came the big next step: the parent company of Chloé, called Richemont, made a large investment in the site, taking it to the next level.

Loss! You really didn't know that, did you? I mean.

– In 2010, Natalie decided to sell a large part of the shares to Richemont together with some of the first investors. In that deal, the company was valued at £1.5 billion, of which Natalie retained about £76 million. By the way, she didn't keep it all for herself; she immediately reinvested £23 million back into the company to still retain a small share – compared to Richemont's £931 million. And she remained on as ‘executive chairman.’

– Worldwide, sales rise as evening falls, a phenomenon that the company calls “wine o'clock.”.

– The benchmark person of the company is called “She” and She is 38 years old, travels 6 to 9 times a year, is extremely fashion-conscious, and is “all over the place.”

– But, and here it comes, the site does not make a profit! They are good at just about everything, except making money. In 2012, they made a loss of £27 million, in 2013 it was £13 million, and last year another £10 million loss. Loss! You really didn't know that, did you? I mean.

– Despite a small profit being made at the beginning of the year, Richemont had enough and is merging with the gigantic and successful Yoox.com, a deal estimated at $1.5 billion.