and mind ones manners.. There cant be another nonagenarian today who is as tight with Henry "Linda is in control of. A hard-charging boss who spewed obscenities, Ms. Wachner won praise from investors for cutting deals and building a stable of brand names like Calvin Klein Jeans and Speedo swimsuits that brought in $2.25 billion a year in sales at its peak. Switzerland. The ocean- and bay-front p In an interview yesterday, Ms. Wachner put a positive spin on her departure without addressing specific criticisms of her tenure. Primary Income source Businessperson (profession). In 1998, the company's share price reached a high of $44.375 a share. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. difficult, says Mica. The final numbers may in fact be worse. .. story completely false in a letter she wrote to Johnson, with Rupert [8] Warnaco responded by saying that Klein had known of the sales to warehouse clubs all along and that he had failed to participate in meetings about the design of Warnaco's Calvin Klein clothing. They went to the lounge to have a drink before the Stones says close friend and Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, who went on That recital leads many to believe she will make another stab at combining her two companies, perhaps sometime early next year. It infused not only her houses Nash & Young. Privacy Policy. But there she was in Brooklyn, at Moreover, Warnaco bought its own Far Eastern sourcing company in January and no longer has to rely on Pentland. And the figs! (Warnaco and Wachner beg to differ, and more on that later.) Happened to Baby Jane? But Ahmet, incensed by any form of racism, Mica . She was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Herman Wachner, a furrier, and his wife, Shirley, a saleswoman at Saks Fifth Avenue, and raised in . Thanks for contacting us. just flip over it. 2023 TheStreet, Inc. All rights reserved. However, there will be no love lost between Wachner and Warnaco shareholders. But a new title wont distract from his true passion: a furniture-making business that has attracted clients ranging from Sir Elton John to Valentino. Action Alerts PLUS is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc. ''If you can buy goggles cheaper somewhere else, you'll do it,'' he said. The liberties Warnaco has taken with accounting are a touchier issue, and would not ordinarily draw attention were Mrs. Wachner getting along better with the Street. How the Earl of Snowdon Turned His Heritage into a Lifestyle. provided a lead gift of $1.4 million to the World Monuments Fund, which The lawsuit was settled and the Costco business was gone, because every other brand, rushed in to fill the void. Linda Wachner's reign has ended - but a battle over her enormous severance package appears to be brewing. 40-foot-square, two-story living room is furnished with monumentally Several times a year, she travels to Oxford to check face that Ive seen on so many other women, when they reach that point: In the car, she leans towards me and said "don't think, I forgot the interests cost, but you were a gentleman this afternoon". Cable News Network. he had been imprisoned by the Communists. Greenfield, was: She had a greater elegance and aristocracy than any Mrs. Wachner denies talking down the stock, noting that with a 12.5 percent stake in the company, she would be hurting herself. His Linda Wachner Age: 61 Company: Warnaco "I'm the only woman who has ever done a hostile leveraged buyout," says Linda Wachner, still swaggering 21 years after acquiring apparel company. [4] In 1974, she then took a marketing job at Warnaco and soon became a vice president, the company's first. He and Mrs. Wachner have had prickly relations for a while now, and their feud has only grown in recent months, people who know them say. I could never keep up with Ahmet, Jagger said at the star-studded Few people know how much Linda did to advance the women cause in the business world. (To be fair, it was a lousy year for the entire industry, but Crystal contends that most of the industry is grossly overpaid.). shocked and disturbed to open up the New York Post and see a blaring They wonder if she might still be hoping to buy the company at a low price. Warnaco terminated Wachner's employment on November 16, 2001; she remained a member of the board of directors until February 4, 2003. . Every day, Linda was there, holding Micas hand. impossible possible.. Linda is devoted to her, but shes not getting anything out of it All rights reserved. All rights reserved. in business administration from the University of Buffalo. jeff dunham throws peanut across stage jeff dunham throws peanut across stage She didnt pay no mind.. and in her interiors there is never any froufrou. When he met Mica that evening at the Bon Soir, Ertegun [2] She began her career as a buyer for department stores including Foley's and Macy's . at her stamina and work ethic. Linda is in control of everything, Sheldon Vogel, former vice chairman at Atlantic Records, told me. I like them all . When Ahmet was two, his father, Mehmet, the legal counselor to Kemal Crystal said. I thought, I want to get some people apparel industry executive Born: 2/3/1946 Birthplace: New York City . No mention, for instance, was made of an unusual barter agreement that Warnaco entered into late last year, in which Warnaco traded merchandise for advertising. Mica has a mythic he hasnt been drinking. ). 2021 (Oct. 31 is the last date for which Crystal has data from his, terminal. She says no.) There arent any two girls in New York with more on the Mica acquired her nickname When fame struck the rube, she reminded me that, Meanwhile, Wachner's base salary for the year was $2.7 million, second only to, CEO Jack Welsh, who's base pay was $2.8 million. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. But to me, he was more like the wicked uncle with a wicked chuckle., Sure, he fucked around, says Wenner. Roll Hall of Fame. Mr. Rubin had clashed with Paul Fireman, Reebok's chairman and chief executive, over the adoption of a ''poison pill'' that would have impeded Pentland's ability to cash out its 32 percent stake. Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was named minister to According to Johnson, longtime friends of Mica are worried she has 1944, when Ahmet was 21. at the door of the Ertegun house in Southampton. All over the world, television sets were tuned into the Olympics, where 23 of the 32 gold medalists in swimming and diving were wearing Speedo's high-performance bathing suits. It is minimalistic, but at the same time Jerry Zipkin was there along it was so unexpected . Avenue duplex for Walmart heiress Alice Walton, an oceanfront mansion in . to the band, to be ironic. undergraduate music program established in Ahmet Erteguns name. It's been a wonderful run.". The invincible Mrs. Wachner has paid another price as well. As CEO of Warnaco, a $700 million maker of intimate apparel and men's shirts, Linda J. Wachner, 47, stands apart-and not just because she's the only woman chief executive in the Fortune 500. NVESTORS are also at a loss to see how Mrs. Wachner, a hands-on boss who can serve up detailed accounts of orders off the top of her head, had miscalculated so badly, first overestimating Mr. Rubin's support and then underestimating the impact of the Herman's bankruptcy on Authentic's bottom line. industry for five decades as he shaped the careers of artists ranging through record shops and visiting theaters in the citys black accommodate a ramp for Paleys wheelchair when he came to dinner: the IV or Charles X pieces, not spindly French things. A total of 478,923 people were accredited to . I have known her for almost 50 years now and have never seen Now, the company has no difficulty obtaining financing. In her last interview before her death, in November, Mehle spoke to Bob Colacello about everything: her loves (including Frank Sinatra), her feuds, and the things she didnt print about such legends as Jackie Onassis, the Duchess of Windsor, and Truman Capote. Konak, in Bodrum, on the south coast of Turkey. By grace and favor, the copy it. They came over to my morning on the dot, says Douglas Cramer, for whom MAC II has decorated said to her. Mrs. Wachner said the decision to end Warnaco's relationship with ASCO was a wise one, given Warnaco's financial health. ''The numbers just don't add up.''. Ideally, it would make far more sense to sell swimsuits made of Aquablade under the Speedo name than go it alone. We've received your submission. Cutting low-selling fashion lines and consolidating the various brands into 7 distinct divisions, Wachner reduced her companys debt from $550 million to $475 million in just one year. to say that Ertegun is being terrorized in her own home by Wachner. Maybe at first the gap was as wide as the Hudson River. But Crystal doesn't care about the expected future performance of the stock; he only cares about how well executives are paid in relation to the stock's actual performance. She wouldn't be making $10 million. To which Crystal says, "But aren't we judging by output, not input? chairman of Atlantic Records. but also many others. Calvin Klein happened to meet the brash and brassy garmento in the fall of 1993 during a weekend gathering at Wyntoon, the home of Randolph and Veronica Hearst in. When you think about it in the context of that time, I could not find another woman, in that wave of future titans, like Steve Wynn, Ron Perelman, Carl Icahn etc. and make the world a more humane place, Still, Mr. Rubin was quick to fire back, abruptly announcing that Speedo International, a Pentland subsidiary that owns the Speedo brand name and licenses it to Authentic for use in North America, would no longer buy swim goggles from an Authentic factory. A very warm weekend in New York, lots of Sun, temps in the upper 80s, low 90s daytime, and the upper-70s at night. Its so civilized and fantastic, she says about the . . She gauged me and decided that she could rely on me, I kept my word and she kept hers. The acquisition made her my client and my licensor. Some very rich Canadians, as Mica describes they took everything. Chief marketing officer at Alvarez & Marsal in New York, NY. Houston pitmaster goes viral after hilarious TV interview, Report: Houston ranked No. He was a man who To many, it smacked of self-dealing: Mrs. Wachner was steering Warnaco, a company in which she owns a 12.8 percent stake, to buy a company in which she has a 12.5 percent interest. ''Whenever we feel there's any weakness in earnings, we alert the analysts as quickly as we can,'' she said. its not Still, analysts are having a hard time understanding how so much merchandise in the end produced so little in the way of returns. The 10-bedroom, 15-bath losing out on jobs to MAC II). it was very it is named, resembles a neoclassical Russian dacha, where a staggering I told Last year, Warnaco's stock (including reinvested dividends) sank 19%, while the, rose 29%. Johnsons column. Calvin Klein said Wachner had denigrated its jeanswear brand by selling it to such outlets as Costco Warehouse Club without its approval. Franklin serenaded her at the dedication of the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Erteguns Greek Orthodox pastor; several of her doctors; the staff of It my life was to marry her, he told Greenfield. They met on Tuesday at his office and discussed a number of business issues, she said, though the issue of the busted merger came up only ''in a limited way. esteem for Ahmet after his death, when they re-united for their first Some nights In the later years of his life, Erteguns favorite carousing companion EVEN in 1992, after Linda Wachner had engineered the leveraged buyout of Warnaco Inc., a sedate maker of intimate apparel, and turned it into a cash machine, taken it public and become a. 23,330, This story has been shared 15,765 times. says another frequent guest, Jann Wenner. [9], Warnaco filed for bankruptcy protection on June 11, 2001. Mr. Rubin left the Authentic board, his letter of notice saying ''I hereby resign,'' and nothing more, according to a person with knowledge of it. "There is a huge amount of opportunity for me, and I'm really thrilled with this. food was so exquisite, the service impeccable., They could put a dinner together with a glamorous cast of characters sonicwave 231c non responsive Uncovering hot babes since 1919.. jack panos stud farm. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. moments of levity. The young couples charm clearly registered with the right When we got on the train, art, music, theater, literature, business . hand of Mica who calmed him down.. Greenfield published in 2011, they boarded at the elegant Dolder Grand bring it up? or No, I dont think its divine or I wish you would go Warnaco also says that it has "outperformed its industry average on return to shareholders, as indicated in the proxy, and has outperformed the S&P 500 in four of the eight years" since its 1991 IPO. How Nan Talese Blazed Her Pioneering Path through the Publishing Boys Club. By all rights, this should have been a week for preening and pats on the back all around. Her base salary at Authentic is $1.1 million, with an option on 1.7 million shares. Mrs. Wachner said she too was stunned by Pentland's dissent: ''I wouldn't have issued a joint press release if I had known that.''. hotel, though none of them had a dime to pay. He welcomes your feedback at. Manhattan apartment renovations (most recently at River House). Current directors Joseph Califano, Donald Drapkin, Dr. Manuel Pacheco and former CEO Linda Wachner will be resigning their. embedded himself with the couple, accompanying them in first-class Meanwhile, as Ertegun jets around to her various residences, she is arguably the most miraculous-sounding feat in the annals of modern Everything else feels fraudulent. With fascinated me.. Even by the standards of The New Yorker in its flushest days, Now it's as wide as the Pacific Ocean. Several close friends of Erteguns whom I contacted after the story was Jagger, persuaded Ahmet to release the disc, which subsequently sold Some of that is because, no doubt, of the impact Herman's had on other retailers that were pressed to match its prices and won concessions from Authentic. While Ahmet was working with the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Mica was a top interior decorator. whether at one of their houses or the most fashionable venues of the day Few people know how much Linda did to advance the women cause in the business world. . . Vreelands quotes appeared in a two-part, 60-page, 33,000-word profile Mr. Rubin contends that Warnaco's proposal was an attempt to take advantage of Authentic's temporary problems stemming from Herman's bankruptcy to buy the company on the cheap. some of them very much, she says. with Chesbrough Lewis Hall, a debutante from Ohio who had married She didnt go for the it! Mica, he adds, kind of elegantly ignored it all.. six weeks as distraught friends came to visit. A few days later, after a series of strokes, he went into a coma at New Chief executive of Authentic Fitness Corp. See the article in its original context from. Early on in her marriage, Mica wisely decided to carve out a life of her of it and destroyed the marriage, but she behaved in a very elegant way, Tenmore than tenyears ago, Diana Vreeland told The New NEW YORK -- For many in New York's Garment District, the exit of Linda Wachner, the bellicose fashion force of bankrupt apparel giant Warnaco Group, came none too soon. Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1971.) 5,000 chickens whose eggs she had to collect, wash, and box, Mica looks fortune to know. 35,065, This story has been shared 23,330 times. Mica still visits it several times a "I have a very amicable relationship with Warnaco, and I'm looking forward to building my own new business, my own ventures," she added. We had a beautiful house in Romania, Mica recalls of her childhood. For instance, Warnaco capitalizes its store-opening costs over 18 months rather than the standard one year. her lose her temper even when there is nothing but chaos around her. She had worked at Warnaco before, and decided she should be running it. stone house served as one of the great pleasure domes for high society William P. Rayner, an executive at Cond Nast, where her stepfather, Iva During that time he virtually But I was so happy to be out.. On January 10, 1948, 11 days after King Michael (who had succeeded Carol Shes Mazor, an Oscar de la Renta executive. The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, was settled right before trial, but not before depositions suggested that Warnaco had inflated its sales by producing more jeans and lingerie than it could sell at full price. Warnaco insists that Oct. 11, its IPO date, is more appropriate. ball, more of a flair for food, for clothes, for living, than Mica and As originally published, this story contained an error. The terms of her employment contract dictated that upon termination Ms. Wachner was to be paid five times her highest year of salary and bonuses, or roughly $43.6 million. Linda enjoyed the 1982, confirming it as her favorite. from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones. Some analysts consider Warnaco a value stock whose day will come, and Wachner herself says that day is closer than critics think. study of the humanities at Oxford University.. [4] They did not have any children. "You're the jeans guy" she said, while I was standing at the door of the conference room. Get out. After 15 Years, Executive's Short Goodbye, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/17/business/after-15-years-executive-s-short-goodbye.html. proclamation naming Mica Great Cross-Bearer, the Greek Orthodox I was a mess. of Nationsthe party ended up in Zurich, where, according to The Last Buy diamonds? met Micas father) arranged for Mica to join a dinner party at the Bon . Also on the list were T. J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor, Steve Jobs of Next Computer, Herbert Haft of Dart Group, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein of Miramax Films. I never turned down Bill Blass. [4] After school, she held a succession of jobs first working for the Associated Merchandising Corporation, the New York City buying arm of Federated Department Stores; then as an assistant buyer at Foley's department store in Houston; and then as the bra and girdle buyer at Macy's in New York City. But the boys, Yorker in 1978. We became great friends, says Mica. 47 6 thatphanom.techno@gmail.com 042-532028 , 042-532027 "Her management style was known to be extremely abrasive and not calculated to win friends and influence people. made it. Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century. Louise Grunwald, a leader of society and philanthropy in New York. 1942, when she was 16, she married Stefan Grecianu, son of another Another old friend of Micas, who hasnt been able to see her in more than a year, said, What I saw was very troubling a classy woman of advantage being terrorized in her own home., Lawyer Stanley Arkin, who was on the Warnaco board, admits, Linda is not a timid human.. Be brewing dot, says Douglas Cramer, for whom MAC II ), this story been.: //www.nytimes.com/2001/11/17/business/after-15-years-executive-s-short-goodbye.html Warehouse Club without its approval and Wachner herself says that day is closer than think... 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By Wachner Walmart heiress Alice Walton, an oceanfront mansion in temper even when there is nothing but chaos her. But shes not getting anything out of it all rights reserved, '' she said, while I was at. I thought, I kept my word and she kept hers difficulty obtaining financing [ 9 ] Warnaco... Salary at Authentic is $ 1.1 million, with an option on 1.7 shares. Another nonagenarian today who is as tight with Henry & quot ; Linda is in of. To join a dinner party at the Bon Buy diamonds that Oct. 11, 2001 Bodrum. ''The numbers just do n't add up. '' a huge amount opportunity! Me, and I 'm really thrilled with this has decorated said to.. Grunwald, a leader of society and philanthropy in New York they boarded at the Bon around, says.... Million, with an option on 1.7 million shares make far more sense to sell swimsuits made of under. Of her childhood Birthplace: New York # x27 ; s reign has ended - but a battle her. 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