Brands
GrabOn partners ZEE5 for subscriber offers
MUMBAI: Couponing company GrabOn has partnered with OTT platform ZEE5 to offer a host of exclusive deals, including discounts on a wide range of products and services, for the latter’s subscribers. These exclusive offers will be applicable on food, travel, electronics, apparel, and groceries.
GrabOn founder and CEO Ashok Reddy commented, “At GrabOn, we always strive to give the best deals and attractive offers to our consumers. With our partnership with ZEE5, our customers will now be able to enjoy the benefits of viewing the exhaustive content library of ZEE5 at discounted prices. This will help us tap into the ever-growing digital entertainment audience and enhance our list of partner brands.”
ZEE5 India business head Manish Aggarwal commented, “Understanding the trends of digital behaviour of our subscribers, we have identified partnerships that reflect their browsing patterns and add value. This is the first time we are partnering with an online discount discovery platform and we are glad to associate with GrabOn, one of the most preferred names in the industry. We understand that the Indian audience is price-sensitive and such associations further strengthen customer commitment through special pricing and discounts.”
In order to avail the benefit, consumers need to log on to the ZEE5 GrabOn co-branded page and click on any offer of their choice. Using the promo code generated, they can enjoy a multitude of discounts/offers.
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.
