MAM
Calcutta High Court rules in favour of MRUC
MUMBAI: The Calcutta High Court has ruled in favour of the Media Research Users Council, dismissing the petition filed by ABP Pvt Ltd challenging the findings of the Indian Readership Survey in 2008 conducted by MRUC.
According to a statement released by the MRUC “The Calcutta High Court has in a significant judgment delivered on 25 September 2012 held that the arbitration clause embedded in software of the Indian Readership Survey, which is part of the terms and conditions a user must accept before accessing data, is binding. Disposing of a petition filed by ABP Private Limited and vacating an injunction earlier granted by the Court, the Hon. Justice Nadira Patherya referred the dispute relating to IRS 2008 to arbitration.”
Responding to ABP‘s petition challenging IRS findings, MRUC had contended that the dispute had to be referred to arbitration, as this clause was a part of the terms accepted by users. This was contested by ABP.
The Hon. High Court held, “The issue sought to be raised by the plaintiff in C.S. No.242 of 2008 is covered by the arbitration agreement as the same has been couched in the widest term and encompasses the issue raised, and the same be referred to arbitration.”
MRUC is a body constituted of media research users by media research users for media research users. “MRUC recognises that there will be situations in which users may disagree with some aspect of the conduct of various researches that it conducts. It is precisely to handle such disputes in a spirit of collaborative resolution that MRUC places so much emphasis on Arbitration,” the body informed in its statement.
The clause in question is as follows:
- All differences and disputes of whatsoever nature, arising between the parties including those that are in connection with, concerned with or relative to any aspect of the IRS Report inclusive of this Agreement between the parties and also any dispute or difference in regard to the interpretation of any provision or term or the meaning thereof, whether during the currency/sustenance of this Agreement or after the determination thereof, including any dispute, difference or controversy in regard to the interpretation / meaning / application of this clause, shall be referred to arbitration by sole arbitrator to be nominated by the MRUC Board of Governors and the said arbitration shall be governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The place of arbitration shall be Mumbai only.
- In all cases where “Court” has jurisdiction to entertain, try and dispose of matters governed by and/arising under or taken under any provision of the said Act, the party/ies (MRUC, Hansa Research and/or the user/s concerned) shall take such proceedings in an appropriate Court in Mumbai alone to the exclusion of all other Courts in the rest of India.
- All disputes, differences and controversies between the parties, if any, not covered under Clauses XII.1 & XII.2 hereinabove shall be filed in and settled exclusively by the Courts in Mumbai alone.
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.
