The former fashion journalist who created Net-a-Porter , one of the leading success stories of the dotcom boom, today pocketed an estimated £50m after selling her share of the luxury online fashion retailer.
Natalie Massenet, who set up the site for sartorially aware and affluent fashionistas in June 2000, sold her remaining stake in the company to Swiss luxury goods group Richemont.
The group, whose brands include Cartier and Mont Blanc, has tightened its hold on the luxury internet shopping market with the deal, which values Net-a-Porter at £350m. Richemont has been involved from the site's early days and now has a majority stake in the business, having formerly owned 29%.
However, Massenet will remain as Net-a-Porter's executive chairman, and it is understood that she will reinvest £15m back into the business alongside Richemont.
She said: "Richemont has completely embraced our vision and strategy since they came on board as a shareholder and together we are going to continue to build the 21st century model for luxury fashion retailing."
Massenet said she remained "completely committed" to the venture and that plans for its development would be announced later this year. In particular, Richemont is likely to help the firm pursue growth opportunities in south-east Asia.
The website is presented in the style of a magazine and was designed to offer customers across the world the chance to buy the latest look. Shoppers can find a range of products from £30 T-shirts to silk crepe gowns worth thousands and will continue to be run as an independent entity alongside Richemont's other luxury goods businesses, which also include Chloe handbags as well as top-end watch brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Around two million clients, mainly affluent women, log on to Net-a-Porter every month to browse a range of pieces from 300 top global designers, such as Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Givenchy. It will provide a ready-made platform, complete with a loyal and wealthy clientele, for Richemont's own brands.
Massenet, former fashion editor at Tatler, launched the company from a miniscule artist's studio in Chelsea a decade ago, just before the dotcom crash. Having unsuccessfully attempted to buy a pair of designer jeans, she noticed that many other fashion-conscious women were unable to find clothes that had featured in magazines, and she seized on a gap in the market.
Since then the company has mushroomed, and currently has an estimated turnover of around £120m and 600 employees in London and New York.
The website has won plaudits for revolutionising high-end shopping, allowing women, no matter where they live, to immediately access a fashion season's most cutting-edge design trends. It now ships luxuriously packaged items to 170 countries around the world.
The sale of Net-a-Porter comes as the luxury goods sector shows signs of recovery, with firms such as Swatch and Hermès expected to make acquisitions.
"If you believe that the internet for luxury goods is going to be anywhere like the internet already is for high street retail, it looks like a good bit of business," Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets, said.