MAM
Animation Studio Cosmos-Maya ropes in Megha Tata as chief executive officer
Mumbai: Animation company Cosmos-Maya India has announced the appointment of Megha Tata as its chief executive officer, who will oversee the company’s operations and lead the animation studio into its next phase of growth. Her appointment comes on the heels of the company’s recent announcement of a $50 million investment plan to facilitate growth and expansion in Europe and North America.
Megha Tata comes with over three decades of experience in the management of television networks in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to Cosmos-Maya, Tata was a managing director at Discovery Communications India. She has held leadership positions at other eminent broadcasters such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International India, and Star India. At Cosmos-Maya, Tata aims to leverage her wealth of knowledge and decades of expertise to drive the organisation’s next phase of growth and solidify the studio’s position as the foremost animation studio in Asia.
Commenting on her appointment, Megha Tata said, “I am thrilled to start my new journey with Cosmos-Maya. I have always looked for challenging yet exciting opportunities in my career, and animation is one such sector that poses immense growth potential. Cosmos-Maya has been at the forefront of the industry in India and Asia, and I look forward to working closely with the senior leadership team to create a vigorous growth path for the company.”
Cosmos-Maya founder and managing director Ketan Mehta said, “I am thrilled and excited to welcome Megha to the Cosmos-Maya family. I look forward to working with her to build on top of Cosmos-Maya’s legacy and take our company to new heights.”
NewQuest Capital Partners—a GP solutions specialist and an investor in Cosmos-Maya managing director Sachin Khandelwal also commented on the appointment, “Having created several highly acclaimed animation shows as one of the leading kids-focussed animation companies in India and Asia, Cosmos-Maya is well positioned to further cement its dominance and unlock new growth opportunities with Megha’s deep experience with broadcasters and in the overall media and entertainment industry.”
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.
