After his father Rodolfo Gucci died, Maurizio Gucci became the majority shareholder and launched a legal battle against his uncle Aldo for control of the family fashion empire. The feud turned especially vicious in 1986, when Aldo accused Maurizio of forging his father's signature to avoid paying inheritance taxes. Maurizio fled to Switzerland to escape prosecution, was initially found guilty, and was later acquitted. The episode exposed how the Gucci dynasty's private inheritance conflict had become inseparable from the public governance of one of Italy's most prestigious luxury houses.
Maurizio eventually became chairman of the Gucci Group in 1989, but the company entered the red between 1991 and 1993. He was blamed for lavish spending on Gucci headquarters in Florence and Milan, while his attempt to impose personal control over the family business helped drive the remaining Gucci relatives out of the company. In 1993, he sold his remaining shares to the Bahrain-based investment fund Investcorp for approximately $170 million, ending the Gucci family's direct association with the brand. The collapse of family control became a defining chapter in Gucci's transformation from an internally feuding Italian dynasty into a professionally managed global luxury corporation.
