Family dispute

Swarovski rebels rebuffed by the Supreme Court

The Group has made savings at the Wattens site in recent years.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Trench warfare and squabbles have left the Tyrolean glitter group Swarovski with little to shine about in recent years. Now there has been a turning point in the family dispute surrounding the crystal dynasty: the Supreme Court overturned the arbitration court ruling that the structural reform initiated in 2020 must be reversed.

A "reversal of the reversal" is now pending. In 2020, the then Managing Director Robert Buchbauer - himself the great-grandson of the company founder - initiated a reorganization of the Group, including numerous redundancies in Wattens. As part of this structural reform, the Swiss Swarovski International Holding acquired an 80 percent stake in Daniel Swarovski KG in Austria.

Recently, sales increased again and the family withdrew from the business.

(Bild: Thomas Schrott Swarovski)

After a victory now comes defeat
However, the rights of individual family members, i.e. shareholders, were significantly reduced by this capital increase. They did not agree with this and took legal action to defend themselves. The former Tyrolean IV President Christoph Swarovski was the leader of the opposition family members (15 to 20 percent share in the capital) at the time. However, he has since withdrawn, meaning that the opposition Swarovskis have de facto had no strategic leader since then, and the dynasty is still considered to be divided.

In 2022, however, the family members were able to achieve a clear success. An arbitration court ruled in favor of the clan and declared the entry of the Swiss holding company and the structural reform to be unlawful. However, the court has now overturned the decision, as the court also confirmed.

In a statement, the company expressed its satisfaction with the decision and called it "a further step in a positive development within the Group". The exact legal consequences are still unclear. No member of the family has been on the management board since 2022. With Alexis Nasard, the Group has brought in a top international manager with no previous connection to Swarovski. Nasard recently saw the crystal group "back on the right track" and pointed to solid figures. The operating result was positive for the first time since 2019, while sales remained stable.