Brands
InvestorAi hires Gopinath Natarajan as president & head, markets
Wealthtech firm adds senior leaders to fuel AI led growth push
MUMBAI: InvestorAi is sharpening its leadership edge as it gears up for its next growth phase, appointing Gopinath Natarajan as president and head, markets, alongside a clutch of senior hires across finance, technology and product.
The company has also brought on board Ajay Munni as chief financial officer, Prema Deepthi Garlapati as chief technology officer and Aditya Raj Mohan as head of platform, product, production and transformation, signalling a broad-based leadership build-out.
InvestorAi CEO and co-founder Bruce Keith said, “As InvestorAi enters a phase of rapid growth, strengthening our leadership bench is critical. To have a stalwart like Gopi by our side along with Ajay, Prema and Aditya, we are more confident than ever in achieving the key milestones we have been working towards.”
He added that the appointments bring the depth needed to balance growth with operational rigour, ensuring the company continues to innovate while maintaining strong controls.
Natarajan, a familiar name in capital markets, returns to InvestorAi with over 25 years of experience in asset management and portfolio services. He previously served as ceo, asset management at Geojit Financial and has held senior roles at firms such as YES Securities, IIFL and Kotak Securities.
Natarajan said, “As Indian markets evolve from traditional models to tech-led ecosystems, I am excited to be back with InvestorAi. With our ai and ml driven tools, we are enabling investors to decode markets and make more informed decisions.”
In his new role, he will lead market strategy, operations and execution, steering the company’s expansion and strengthening its market presence.
Munni, who joins as chief financial officer, will oversee finance, risk, legal, compliance and administration, bringing prior experience from Lendingkart. Garlapati, formerly with Cyara, will lead technology and product development, while Mohan will head a newly formed team focused on platform agility and integration.
InvestorAi, which works with over 20 broking firms and reaches more than 30,000 retail investors, is positioning itself as a frontrunner in ai-led investing. The company has also launched new wealth and asset management offerings, including intra-day and mtf baskets, alongside a white-labelled platform.
With fresh leadership in place and expansion plans underway, the firm is aiming to scale up rapidly, blending financial expertise with technology to reshape how India invests.
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.
