MAM
Arushi Sharma to head Brand Partnerships & Strategy for Chtrbox in Mumbai
MUMBAI: Chtrbox, India’s leading data-powered Influencer Marketing company, today announced the appointment of Ms. Arushi Sharma as the Head of Brand Partnerships & Strategy for Mumbai. In her new role, Arushi will be responsible for steering the growth of the firm’s specialized Influencer Marketing business in Mumbai, while also contributing towards team & culture building and product innovation. She will also work towards setting newer benchmarks for how strategically and creatively can social media influencers be leveraged for brands and agencies in India.
Arushi has over eight years of diverse social media marketing & leadership experience across the UK, Singapore, Indonesia and India. Most recently, she was leading the social media team, including the influencer marketing division, for Iris Worldwide in Indonesia, & was previously with them in Singapore where she led the APAC Digital Command Centre for Philips. Among her many achievements, the highlights of her career have been winning the Bronze Social Campaign of the Year Award for Philips as well as being invited to speak at the Cannes Lions Festival 2016 held in France. She also managed the PR & digital launch of Spotify across South East Asia which organically achieved #1 trending status for the brand worldwide.
Speaking about her association with Chtrbox, Arushi said, “In my experience across markets and sectors, the one thing that I have increasingly witnessed is the demand for authentic voices and storytelling in the social media space. It is exciting to work with a brilliant up-and-coming platform like Chtrbox that addresses the lack of consolidation on pricing and strong measurement models to give popular and emerging brands and influencers an effective and measurable way of partnering together. Together with this dynamic team, we are changing the way this space operates, and are excited to do more.”
On Arushi’s appointment, Pranay Swarup, Co-Founder & CEO @Chatterbox said: “Arushi and I had connected almost a decade ago as colleagues and have been ‘Facebook Friends’ ever since. We’ve witnessed each other grow as professionals over the years, and I’m glad that we’re now doing some disruptive work together. With Arushi’s experiences across international markets, and the clientele and scale of work that she has managed, we are certain that she would provide newer avenues for Chtrbox to grow. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Arushi again and wish her on a successful and fruitful journey with us at Chtrbox”.
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.
