Versace CEO hands in resignation

ROME, June 6 (UPI) -- The chief executive of Italian fashion house Gianni Versace SpA has resigned, the firm says, after apparently running afoul of designer Donatella Versace.

The company announced Friday that Giancarlo Di Risio was leaving in a "mutual decision to close their professional relationship," The Wall Street Journal reported.

But quoting an unnamed person familiar with the matter, the Journal said Di Risio left after unsuccessfully trying to convince Donatella Versace to rein in costs by spending less on promotional events and designing lower-priced clothing in the face of declining sales.

Di Risio was hired in 2004 to rescue Versace from a financial downturn that struck in the aftermath of the 1997 slaying of founder Gianni Versace, the newspaper said.