MAM
BBDO ropes in Atin Wahal as EVP Mumbai
MUMBAI: Former Publicis SVP Atin Wahal has joined advertising agency BBDO as the new executive vice president. Wahal will head the Mumbai office.
BBDO Asia chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Burge says, “This is a key role in a key market for a key office. India and BBDO India are booming and I have no doubt Atin will make a great success of taking our Mumbai office to greater heights. We have a fantastic team there and a tremendous culture which I am certain he will bring an exciting new dimension to.”
Wahal adds, “I have always considered myself being in the business of storytelling for brands and I am thrilled to be a part of the team who is the best in the business not only in India but the world. What got my attention when meeting Josy, Ajai and JP is how simplistic but thorough the approach is towards their brands which lends itself to the philosophy of ‘acts, not ads’. In the last 10 years, BBDO India has been the most effective and creative agency in the world and I look forward to making the agency and its clients shine even brighter.”
BBDO India chairman and chief creative officer Josy Paul mentions, “Atin is a hands-on advertising and brand management champion with a strong business acumen. He is a believer and partitioner of our ‘Acts Not Ads’ mantra and a keen follower of social movements led by brands–including our work on Gillette, Ariel, Whisper, Mirinda, Quaker, Visa, SC Johnsons, All Out and Aviva Life Insurance. We are thrilled to have him on our side. Spiritually, he is already one of us.”
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.
