MAM
Guardian Healthcare and John Abraham join hands to promote GNC India
MUMBAI: Guardian Healthcare, one of the largest health & wellness supplements retailer in India, has signed renowned actor and fitness icon John Abraham as the company’s brand ambassador, to promote GNC, a leading nutrition and wellness supplements brand globally. John Abraham is a strong proponent of living well and his personal beliefs align closely with GNC’s values.
The partnership will help support further growth for the company in the market, particularly by elevating brand awareness and driving traffic and visibility for franchise locations throughout India. The Indian nutraceuticals market currently stands at $4 billion and is to grow at 20 percent each year, to reach $10 billion by 2022. GNC India aims to expand its availability across all large supplement and pharmacy stores by 2020 in all Metros and Tier 1 Towns.
Shadab Khan, CEO of GNC India, said, “We are extremely delighted to sign on John Abraham as our brand ambassador, as he embodies the brand philosophy to ‘Live Well’. In John we have found a partner who reflects the right commitment and attitude in order to advocate and promote good health. He also allows our business to connect with millennial audiences, which is critical to our continued growth and success.”
With the objective of laying a foundation to “Live Well” amongst the Indian consumers, Guardian Healthcare and GNC have identified four building blocks of nutrition – Multivitamins, Omegas, Proteins, and Probiotics. Having complete nutrition is essential for a healthy life. However, just consuming food is not enough, and today’s hectic lifestyle leads to incomplete nutrition. With over 80 years of expert knowledge in health and wellness, GNC believes in bridging the gap created due to inadequate nutrition, through nutrition supplements. These scientifically developed formulas undergo as many as 150 quality and safety checks to ensure maximum Quality, Potency and Purity.
John Abraham, the newly-appointed brand ambassador for GNC India said, “GNC is a one-of-its-kind brand devoted exclusively to helping people improve their quality of life and to encourage them to stay fit and healthy. I have been a loyal, long-time customer and use a range of GNC products. The brand believes in a holistic approach towards health and wellbeing. GNC’s vision resonates with my own lifestyle and way of living. I’m delighted to join GNC India to create awareness about the right line of nutrition for Indians.”
In India, Guardian Healthcare is the master franchisee for GNC LiveWell™, with exclusive manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing rights. GNC India’s products are also available at www.guardian.in, a site owned and managed by Guardian Healthcare, the master franchisee for GNC products in India.
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.
