MAM
Carat India rated number one on vitality scores: RECMA
MUMBAI: After a flurry of account wins over the last 12 months including brands like General Motors, Microsoft, Sony, Nokia, MasterCard, British Airways, JSW Steel & Cement, Popees and Ruosh to name a few, Carat has also shown the maximum growth on the Qualitative Ranking of RECMA moving from the number 11 spot in August 2013 to number four in the latest report, making it the fastest growing media agency in India.
To top it all, on Vitality scores of the research, Carat has jumped to the number one position with a perfect score of 10.
Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin said, “This is an absolutely fantastic achievement by Carat to become the fastest growing agency in India. From being a one-in-a-crowd agency in the market, in a short time, they are at the top-end of the table. As the lead media agency of the Denstu Aegis Network, Carat continues to make its mark in the Industry and will very soon be amongst the top three on all parameters.”
Carat India managing director Kartik Iyer opined, “This is a great testimony for the fantastic work the teams have put over the past few years to strengthen the Carat brand in India. This is also a result of the key investments made by group in great people and processes which have delivered outstanding solutions to our clients.”
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
