José Neves Takes Control of Namesake Foundation Based in Portugal
LONDON — José Neves, who stepped down as chief executive officer of Farfetch earlier this month following its sale to Coupang, has already moved on to a new venture.
The founder and former owner of Farfetch, which was purchased out of administration late last year, has become the executive president of Fundação José Neves, which is based in Portugal.
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Neves’ previous title at the foundation was founder and president. He will replace the current executive president, Carlos Oliveira, who is also one of the foundation’s three cofounders.
“I now have more time to dedicate to one of my passions, philanthropy,” Neves told WWD. News of his new role was first reported in the Portuguese media earlier this week.
Fundação José Neves is a nonprofit organization established in May 2019.
According to the website, its main purpose is “to contribute to Portugal’s development and the happiness of its people through education, and to elevate Portugal to the very top of the UN’s Human Development index within the next 20 years.”
The foundation funds projects related to education, skills development and lifelong learning.
In his founder’s letter, Neves said he is committed to donating two-thirds of his assets during his lifetime to the foundation, which he founded with fellow entrepreneurs Oliveira and António Murta.
“Portugal may not have the natural resources to compete globally, but it does possess the human potential and intellectual power to compete for leadership status in the digital world,” Neves said in his letter.
Neves’ latest venture coincided with Coupang’s fourth-quarter earnings update earlier this week, during which the company sketched out its vision for Farfetch in a call with analysts.
“We hope in a few years we’ll be having the conversation about how Coupang turned Farfetch into a business that transformed the customer experience around luxury fashion, while also providing strategic value for Coupang,” said Bom Kim, founder and CEO of Coupang.
“We’re already executing on a plan to make Farfetch self-funding, with no additional investment beyond the announced capital commitment. And we see many paths to making this a worthwhile investment for [Coupang] shareholders,” he added.
Neves stepped down as CEO of Farfetch on Feb. 15, two months after Coupang and the San Francisco-based firm Greenoaks Capital purchased the luxury e-commerce platform and pledged $500 million to help revive it.
At the time, Coupang said Neves would remain at Farfetch in a consultancy role, and would not be directly replaced as CEO. Going forward, the Farfetch business will be overseen by Kim.
Neves founded Farfetch in 2008, and six years later the company became one of the U.K.’s few unicorns with a $1 billion-plus valuation. Over the years, Farfetch would become a $24 billion company, but all that unraveled in the final quarter of 2023, leaving Neves, and his remaining investors, out of pocket.
Once a feted entrepreneur who had dreamt of democratizing fashion online and enabling retailers and brands — no matter how large or small — to reach worldwide audiences, Neves fell victim to his own management fumbles, and to wider macroeconomic and geopolitical events.
While many investors were stunned — and angered — by the company’s crash, there are some who described Neves as a trailblazer in the still evolving world of e-commerce.
Danny Rimer, a partner at Index Ventures, an early investor in Farfetch, called Neves a “very special founder and an exceptional entrepreneur.” He said Neves had a clear vision of what the industry could achieve and the role that Farfetch could play in the wider ecosystem.
Carmen Busquets, another early-stage investor, had been hoping to raise between $500 million and $1 billion to rescue Farfetch late last year, and had proposed a five-year plan with the aim of driving fast growth and profitability.
“Farfetch remains the leading company in the industry. It has driven fundamental change to the distribution of fashion globally over the last 15 years,” Busquets told WWD in December.
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