MAM
Balesh Sharma becomes CEO of merged Vodafone-Idea entity
MUMBAI: Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group have announced the proposed new leadership team of the merger between two major telecom operators of India – Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
Balesh Sharma who is currently the chief operating officer of Vodafone India will become the CEO of the merged entity. He joined Vodafone in 2003 and over the years, has held several senior management positions in India and internationally.
Idea Cellular CEO Kumar Mangalam Birla will become the non-executive chairman of the merged Company.
Sashi Shankar, who is currently the chief marketing officer at Idea, will be responsible for marketing and brand strategy for the consumer business.
Anil Tandon and Rajat Mukherjee, currently head of technology and head of corporate affairs of Idea will be full time advisers to the merged business in their respective areas of expertise, working closely with Vishant Vora and P Balaji, respectively.
The appointments will come into effect after the merger is completed.
Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, which will come into effect after the merger has been completed. This is in line with the original merger announcement of March 20, 2017, which said that the management team of the combined business would be confirmed prior to closing.
This is in line with the original merger announcement of 20 March 2017, which said that the management team of the combined business would be confirmed prior to closing.
The existing leadership teams of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company’s operational performance until the merger becomes effective.
It is only upon completion of the merger that the two businesses will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities.
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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.
