MAM
Scooty Skipper races to glory at Red Bull Driving Licence
NOIDA: The inaugural Red Bull Driving Licence event revved into life at Galgotias University in Greater Noida on Saturday and it delivered every bit of the chaos, colour and cheek the brand is known for. Scooty Skipper, the spirited duo of Aazim and Karan Suwasia from New Delhi, blazed through the 200 metre obstacle course in a blistering 54 seconds to take top honours.
With more than 500 registrations pouring in, only 20 teams made the shortlist through their applications and video entries. The field was a lively mix, with motorsport and auto media names like PowerDrift, Evo India and Top Gear India joining the fray along with popular creators Just Neel Things and Focused Indian, giving the contest a broad and buzzing line up.
The race for the podium was tight. Team Singh, made up of Sandeev Singh and Naman Sahni, clinched second place with a sharp 57 second run. Team Alpha Pack from Vikaspuri, featuring Kapish and Chirag Tyagi, followed close behind in 58 seconds.
What made the event a spectacle was the course itself. Modelled on the delightful madness of Indian roads and turned into a safe but exaggerated playground, the route packed in everything from speed breakers and gravel pits to hawker lanes, footpath crossovers, auto rickshaw obstacles and even a police checkpoint. Creative costumes, loud cheers and a finish line styled like a toll booth added to the carnival atmosphere as riders collected their symbolic Red Bull licence.
Red Bull Driving Licence is designed as a quirky two member challenge that transforms everyday driving chaos into pure entertainment. Its Delhi NCR debut set a lively benchmark, mixing competition, comedy and controlled mayhem in classic Red Bull fashion. The engines may have cooled, but the energy it sparked is likely to fuel many more editions.
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.
