Last week it was rumoured that Amazon, the online retail giant, was involved in ongoing talks with London-based luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter (thought to be worth around 2.5 billion euros) to discuss the possibility of purchasing it.

These rumours were quickly quashed. And now it has emerged that Italian clothing and accessories company Yoox is going to merge with the British fashion retailer instead.

So where did the Amazon rumours come from? And what does the future hold for Net-a-Porter?

It makes sense that Amazon would seek to purchase Net-a-Porter; the company has, over the last few years, upped its efforts to move into the luxury fashion market.

Last year, for example, the company announced plans to open a 46,000 sq. ft. photography studio and added Gucci and Hugo Boss to its list of suppliers.

A move towards a more content driven rather than just price driven online retailing.   

Acquiring Net-a-Porter, already a dominant force in online luxury fashion retail, would have been the final piece of the puzzle.

After all, such a deal would provide a significant boost for Amazon’s luxury fashion operation, which currently accounts for only 0.6 percent of the UK clothing market.

Perhaps, then, there was something to the rumours after all…

But the Yoox/Net-a-porter merger at least superficially appears to be a more mutually beneficial one: Net-a-Porter’s in-season lines will complement Yoox’s out-of-season offers incredibly well, and Net-a-Porter won’t simply be swallowed by a larger, more powerful organisation.

It is also an opportunity to leverage on each other’s infrastructure and logistics to help rationalise costs and buy products cheaper and in more volume. As well as a chance for Yoox to tap into a more international talent pool at Net-a-porter.

The new company will be known as Yoox Net-a-Porter and will have combined net revenues in 2014 of 1.3 billion euros. 

Under the deal, the company is expected to raise up to 200m euros to fund growth. Swiss luxury group Richemont, which owns Net-a-Porter, will keep 50 percent of the shares, though it will be restricted to 25 percent of the voting rights.

Yoox founder, Federico Marchetti, will become CEO and Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter, will become Executive Chairman.

Whilst Johann Rupert, Richemont Chairman, hopes that this “merger of the two leaders will further enhance an independent, neutral platform”, for me the big question mark is how the two founders (and former competitors) who have put their all into their businesses will be able to work together.

And how will the two cultures blend and co-exist?

Do you think that the Yoox deal was the best option for Net-a-Porter? Email us your thoughts.