Walter Hoving - Later Years

Later Years

Tiffany & Company was a publicly owned company until it was acquired in 1979 by Avon Products, Inc.. Hoving's resignation the following year was one of a series of management changes stemming from the Avon takeover. Hoving was unhappy with the direction Avon was taking Tiffany & Company and found that despite the promises of autonomy he received when he sold the company to them.

He started his own consulting firm that specialized in retail design and management and started work on his memoirs that were never published. He also focused his efforts on his philanthropic activities and relaxed in his home in Newport, Rhode Island playing golf every day.

He would often write the David Mitchell then chairmen of Avon seeking to buy back Tiffany & Company but his offers were never seriously entertained. As always he was never shy about making his opinions known about the present management of the store who he thought were nice people but “boobs”. He sparred openly with Mitchell writing letters to the editor after almost every interview the Avon chairmen gave mentioning Tiffany in an unfavorable light. He often commented on his regrets on selling the store to Avon. He felt that they had reneged on many of the promises they had made to him prior to the sale of Tiffany.

He always sealed all his deals with a handshake which he saw as the ultimate signature of intent and trust. When he sold the air rights to Tiffany & Company to Donald Trump in 1979, he shook his hand sealing the deal. The young Trump was astonished at this old school approach but went on to build his famous Fifth Avenue building right next door to Tiffany based on that handshake. He mentioned this episode fondly remembering Hoving in his first book.

After Hoving resigned Henry B. Platt, a great-great-grandson of founder Charles Tiffany took over the helm for a brief period but was fired five months later by Mitchell for being incompetent though this was never discussed openly. Platt stated he was retiring after 34 years at Tiffany but anyone close to the situation knew this was just not the case. Platt also had the very bad habit of claiming credit for many of the milestones that Hoving had actually initiated like putting together the award winning design team of Angela Cummings, Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso. There was never a time that Platt had the luxury of doing anything unless it was approved by “Mr. Hoving”.

In an interview for the New York Times, Angela Cummings stated: At Tiffany's I met Walter Hoving, she recalled, and he looked at the little portfolio I had and said, You want to work for us, go ahead and try. It was like a threat, but at the time I didn't even know who he was.

Five years after it was bought by Avon Products Inc., Tiffany & Company was put up for sale. Reports had circulated for more than a year that Avon, the world's largest cosmetic company, was giving up on its efforts to run Tiffany. Despite a series of management, accounting and marketing changes, Avon has been unable to bring the stores in line with its corporate financial goals. Hoving, said at the time, They bought it for prestige reasons and that's not a good reason, If Avon can get $150 million for it, they ought to grab it.

In 1984, Tiffany & Company was bought by private investors, and in 1987 it again became publicly owned. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.