MAM
F1 Sponsorship forum kicks off next month
MUMBAI: Juan Villalonga, the man who had the vision of bringing telecom major Telefónica into Formula One, will deliver the first keynote address at the Formula One Sponsorship Forum.
The event takes place from 16-17 November 2005 in Monaco, France. In India Formula One action airs on ESPN Star Sports (ESS).
Villalonga, the former chairman of Telefónica and one of Europe’s most eminent and influential business executives, still has close links to Formula One and is highly knowledgeable about the business of the sport. He said, “I wish there had been a conference like this when I was working on the proposal to bring Telefónica into Formula One. The sponsorship forum is the perfect opportunity for a potential sponsor to meet all the right people and do all its research within a concentrated two day period.”
Villalonga’s vision to introduce Telefónica to Formula One has since been more than justified after Renault and Spanish driver Fernando Alonso took the 2005 constructors and drivers world championships. Formula One’s stock in Spain has risen hugely and this has been a major boost for Telefónica’s sponsorship.
Joining Villalonga at the event will be hundreds of delegates from companies worldwide. Companies registered to attend include Allianz, AMD, British American Tobacco, BMW, Credit Suisse, Diageo, Intel, Panasonic, Petronas, SAP, Shell, Ford, Siemens, Emirates, Toyota Motor Corporation and Vodafone.
The forum is a meeting place for all of Formula One’s stakeholders to network, debate and close deals. 40 seminars taking place throughout the two day period, chaired by well-known experts across a range of different sectors. All participants will be able to join in any of these workshops and contribute to open debates, some of which will be reported or televised:
There will also be an exhibition and demonstration area consisting of 1000 sqm of space to demonstrate the latest equipment, techniques, solutions and advances.
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.
