MAM
F1 sponsorship forum to take place in November in Monaco
MUMBAI: The Formula One Sponsorship Forum will take place in Monaco, France, on 16 and 17 November 2005. The Forum, which is backed by Formula One Management, is a meeting place for all of F1’s stakeholders to network, debate and close deals. In India, viewers can catch F1 action on ESPN Star Sports.
The F1 body says that it is clearly at a crossroads for the future which will have a big impact on the lives and business of everyone involved with Formula One. The conference will discuss many of these issues. The Shanghai International Circuit will be exhibiting and participating in the seminars as will the Circuit de Catalunya.
SKI And Company, which is the agency of record for General Motors Racing, is scheduled to speak on their measured media programme with A.C. Nielsen, the world’s leading marketing information company. SKI And Company CEO Chris Lencheski says, ““We are excited to see this forum come together especially as the industry consolidates to greater measured metrics and improved implementation of research based-sales”.
Michael Payne of Formula One Management, Jim Wright of BMW Williams, Josep Ramon of Circuit de Catalunya, Tim Crow of Karen Earl Sponsorship, Neil Duncanson of North One TV and Peter Harris of Vodafone are a few of the delegates and companies registered to attend.
During the two-day period, 40 seminars will take place and will be chaired by 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 be an exhibition and demonstration area to demonstrate the very latest equipment, techniques, solutions and advances. Media partners for the event include Sport Business Magazine, Sportcal and Sport and Technology. The Forum no longer has any involvement with BusinessF1 magazine.
Simon Berger, who is the director of the Formula One Sponsorship Forum, said, “We have received positive encouragement from literally hundreds of business people involved in F1 and motor sport, many of whom have already committed to the Forum. There is so much to talk about the business of the sport, so much change taking place, and the timing of the Formula One Sponsorship Forum could not be more opportune. This is an exciting opportunity for key industry personnel to get together and interact in a very unique environment. As one key player surmised, the Formula One Sponsorship Forum will be to motor sport what Midem in Cannes is to the Music 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.
