MAM
Mirum India appoints Kalpesh Patel as director of martech services
NEW DELHI: Mirum has appointed Kalpesh Patel as director of martech services. Besides leading the Salesforce practice, Patel will also lead other areas of practice such as Sitecore, SEO, UX_UI in addition to other CMS and e-commerce solutions. Patel has more than 23 years of experience in managing and delivering technology solutions to Indian and global clients. Patel has been with Mirum for more than four years now and was earlier leading the technology practice.
Mirum India is a Salesforce gold consulting partner for over nine years and has successfully executed more than 100 projects. Marketing automation services continues to be a major focus area for the agency. Mirum also has an in-house product engineering team, that has built numerous marketing cloud accelerators.
Mirum India joint CEO Hareesh Tibrewala said, “Kalpesh is a very passionate and detail-oriented leader. He brings both: the emotional quotient required to run and manage a large team; and the discipline and processes required to ensure flawless and timely delivery. Post Covid2019, we expect to see an accelerated requirement for digital transformation for businesses. And under Kalpesh’s leadership, we are set to deliver the same for our clients.”
“A big thank you to Mirum India for putting faith in me and giving me this big opportunity,” said Patel. “With the martech vertical, Mirum India has now combined all the offerings which brands need on their digital transformation journey. I am excited to leverage my experience in delivering technology solutions for domestic and global clients, to add value to the martech vertical. I am looking forward to my new role and keen on contributing to the success of martech and the organisation.”
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.
