MAM
‘Mission Start Ab’ new competitive business reality show set to launch on Amazon Prime
Mumbai: Manish Chowdhary, the co-founder of WOW Skin Science, beauty and wellness brand, is all set to appear as an investor and mentor on ‘Mission Start Ab’. The brand new competitive business reality show is all set to launch, conceptualised as a part of Amazon Prime Video’s partnership with the office of the principal scientific advisor to the Government of India.
The show will feature other luminaries of the Indian business and start-up ecosystem. Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Anisha Gupta – founder, She Capital will join Chowdhary as mentors. Designer and actress Masaba Gupta, and actor and video jockey Cyrus Sahukar will be the friends and guides of the entrepreneurs, helping them narrate and detail their journeys.
Chowdhary currently acts as a mentor for several early-stage ventures and start-ups. During his stint with the soon-to-be-released show, he aims to help build home-grown businesses, provide courage and motivation to budding entrepreneurs and guide them on becoming India’s next unicorn. His mantra of ‘Fail Fast, Fix fast’ to innovate to taste failure and to learn is sure to aid entrepreneurs in their journey. Chowdhary believes in repeated experimentation and innovation to fine-tune and maximise the quality of WOW Skin Science products while remaining undeterred by failure.
WOW Skin Science co-founder – Aspiring entrepreneurs Manish Chowdhary Manish Chowdhary said, “We are super excited to feature the next generation of entrepreneurs on this show. I want them to master the art of ‘fail fast, fix fast’ – a mentality of overcoming adversity and emerging on top. All of them come with diverse experiences and incredible journeys. They will be evaluated by a distinguished panel of business leaders who have toiled equally hard to assert themselves as experts in their respective sectors. We look forward to an extensive exchange of ideas and a memorable show from which we can all learn and have valuable takeaways,”, will speak about their journeys, challenges, shortcomings, strengths, innovations, and achievements during the show. Chaudhary and other mentors will look at these businesses through a unique lens, by assigning tasks and assessing their performance, which may pave the way for potential investments.
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.
