Stella's £6m price tag

Stella McCartney made £6 million when she first sold her name to Gucci, it was revealed for the first time today.

Details of the deal, never before disclosed, have been revealed in the 2001 accounts of her private company Stella McCartney Ltd, filed today at Companies House.

McCartney became one of Gucci's highest paid designers when the Italian luxury goods group bought a 50 per cent stake in her company in 2001. The accounts show that on 1 April, 2001, Gucci Group bought shares in Stella McCartney Ltd for £6 million "to purchase from Stella McCartney, the right, title and interest in the McCartney name."

It means she is on the way to emulating the fortune made by her father Sir Paul during his 40-year career in music. She is already thought to be worth £16 million, and the accounts state the unnamed highest paid director at Stella McCartney Ltd, assumed to be her, was paid a £730,840 salary in 2001.

Meanwhile, separate accounts show Gucci paid even more, around £13.5 million, to buy a 51 per cent stake in designer Alexander McQueen's company Birdswan Solutions, in July 2001. The two British designers were bought into the fold as part of a huge expansion at Gucci. They are now regarded as two of the jewels in its crown, although they are still struggling to break into profit.

This summer - during which she married - McCartney appeared to be having teething troubles. First-year accounts at Companies House show losses at Stella McCartney Ltd of £2.7million. Gucci had made several cash injections, including one of £4 million.

Gucci said it had not expected her to do well in her first year. But one fashion insider said: "Gucci have poured millions into Stella's company so I'm certain they are disappointed.'

McCartney, 32, joined Gucci in a blaze of publicity in 2001. She first came to notice in 1995 when her St Martin's catwalk show was modelled by Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.