Macron's 'Maverick' moment gives glasses maker's stock $4 million bump

Paris - Emmanuel Macron's ​aviator sunglasses drove the shares of their maker, iVision Tech , almost 28% higher on Thursday after the French president's ​look during his speech at the annual World ‌Economic Forum in Davos went viral online.

The ⁠group, which owns ‌French high-end eyewear brand Henry Jullien, said on Wednesday that the model worn by Macron was its Pacific S 01, with a price tag of 659 euros ($770) ​on its website.

This "certainly created a wow effect on the stock", iVision Tech CEO Stefano Fulchir told Reuters.

The share rally has added around 3.5 ‌million ‌euros ($4.1 million) to the Italian company's market capitalisation. Memes, comments and speculation over Macron's ⁠appearance surged on social media, with ubiquitous references to the 1986 movie Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. Even US President Donald Trump weighed ⁠in.

Macron's office said the choice ⁠to wear sunglasses during his speech, which took ‌place indoors, was to protect his ‌eyes because of a burst blood vessel. It did not confirm the brand of the glasses.

Yet, Fulchir said he ‍could clearly recognise the Henry Jullien glasses, which he said he had sent to Macron in 2024.

The Milan-listed shares rose nearly 6 per cent on Wednesday, before being automatically halted from trading for most of the day. They briefly resumed trading around 1115 GMT on Thursday before being halted ​again, and were ‌on track for their highest one-day jump on record.

($1 = 0.8546 euros)