Macron asks staff for autonomy and a company-wide view. In return, more than a quarter of them now share in the company’s results on a fixed three-year cycle.
Macron’s latest stock-option payout did not require a buyer, a stock-market listing or a change of ownership. In September, the Bologna-based teamwear maker paid 112 employees an amount equal to half of its 2025 EBITDA, completing the third round of a scheme designed to pay out on its own timetable.
That is the unusual feature of Macron’s model. At many privately held companies, employee equity becomes valuable only when an owner sells or lists the business. Macron says it settles its plans every three years, whether or not either event happens. The result is a recurring share in the value created, rather than a promise whose payoff depends on an eventual exit.
The 112 beneficiaries represented more than a quarter of its workforce and were spread across markets including Italy, the UK, the US and the Far East. A fourth plan has already been approved by the board and will cover more than 120 people.
A payout built into the way the company operates
“Macron’s growth is a collective project,” said Chief Executive Gianluca Pavanello. “Our business model starts from a conviction: those who help create value should be able to share in the financial results of that work. It means giving tangible recognition to the dignity of work and the importance of people in the development of the company.”
Macron calls participants in the scheme “Macron-entrepreneurs,” linking greater responsibility within the business to a share in its results.
“We ask Macron-entrepreneurs for autonomy, responsibility and a perspective that encompasses the entire company,” Pavanello said. “We want that commitment to be matched by a tangible share in the results generated.” Pavanello described the approach as “not a one-off initiative” but part of how Macron is run. Paying out an amount equal to half of a year’s EBITDA, he said, makes that principle “extremely concrete.”
The scheme has continued as Macron has grown from a company with about €10 million in revenue in 2004, when Pavanello became CEO, to almost €245 million in 2025, up 9.4 percent on the previous year. Macron expects another record year in 2026. More than 80 percent of Macron’s revenue comes from outside Italy, with the UK its largest market ahead of Italy, according to an April 2026 profile in Forbes Italia.
