MAM
Valvoline joins SunRisers Hyderabad as principal sponsor
NEW DELHI: Valvoline Cummins Private Ltd, a leading manufacturer and supplier of premium branded lubricants, has associated with SunRisers Hyderabad, as its principal sponsor for the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League. The association is part of the brand’s increased focus for its consumers through sports marketing which includes cricket to expand its market share in India.
The 2016 IPL champions and a very consistent performer in IPL, SunRisers Hyderabad will be seen sporting Valvoline’s logo on their jersey. In addition, the Valvoline brand, along with the SunRisers Hyderabad, will be launching campaigns to promote their partnership by rolling out joint initiatives across multiple media platform to engage with consumers and SunRisers Hyderabad fans across India.
Valvoline Cummins MD Sandeep Kalia said, “We are always looking for relevant avenues and associations to engage with our consumers, and this association with a sporting event is a natural extension of the brand ethos. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is undoubtedly one of the most popular sporting events in the country, and our choice of IPL as a platform to actively engage with consumers, stems from this. We are excited to extend our partnership with such a strong and dedicated team as SunRisers Hyderabad.”
SunRisers Hyderabad CEO K. Shanmugham said, “We are very excited to partner Valvoline for the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Valvoline is an eminent brand and we see incredibly strong alignment with them. With our partnership, we look forward to creating great cricket moments for fans and putting up a solid show like every year.”
In India, Valvoline Cummins Pvt Ltd is a 50:50 joint venture between Valvoline International Inc. U.S.A, leading worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services, and Cummins India Limited.
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.
