The rumour that Giorgio Armani is planning to float his company have been vehemently denied by the company. The Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera suggested as much in an article yesterday. It reported that Armani was in talks with both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch to take the company public. Sources valued the company between £2.3 billion and £3.3 billion. "Any meetings that we may be having with members of the financial professional community are simply part of our overall approach of providing information in an open and professional way to those who follow our sector as exemplified by the way in which we publish our annual report," the company said.

Armani once said in an interview with Time magazine that he would not consider an IPO because the nature of the business is so personal that it would be detrimental to have to constantly answer to shareholders and explain to them why you spend $1 million on a fashion show. "And the stock market is so demanding," he added. "If you don't grow 20 percent every season, the business collapses."