MAM
Nirvana Music launches official world cup cricket album
MUMBAI: The music industry is cashing in on World Cup cricket fever. Nirvana Music, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nimbus Communications, yesterday announced the launch of Khel Re – the official music album of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.
While this is an album that celebrates a cricketing extravaganza that occurs once every four years, it’s about more than just the game. It focuses on passion in all its forms and the road one has to travel to achieve one’s dreams.
“Through the album we’ve explored the intricacies of life, celebrated the spirit of man in not giving up and emerging victorious,” says Nirvana Music business head Rahul Guha.
Popular singer Sukhwinder Singh, who sings the song Raahon Mein on the album says: “We all dream of being successful in life, but success comes at a price. Through the song, I want to tell our team to stand up and overcome each hurdle that stands in the way of us winning the World Cup. Come on guys, we can do it!”
The beauty of Khel Re is that it is an album that is timeless. Anyone can identify with the songs, find meaning in them and enjoy them in times to come. All of this created in a manner that is stylish and meaningful. Further, rarely do top musicians and singers join hands to contribute to an album.
Khel Re is indeed huge in terms of artist involvement. Top composers Jatin-Lalit, Rajesh Roshan, Sajid-Wajid, Lalit Sen, Nitin Raikwar have combined with new and young talent like Harpreet, Jeet M. Ganguli and Jayanta Pathak to contribute soulful and energetic tunes to the album.
In addition to Sukhwinder Singh (Raahon mein), the album also features the exceptional vocal talents of Alka Yagnik and Abhijeet (Naye naye sapnein), KK (Waqt), Sunidhi Chauhan (Khamoshi), Shankar Mahadevan (Sabse aage), Vasundhara Das and Sudesh Bhosle (Khelna hai re), Vinod Rathod (Humko hai yakeen), Bali Brahmabhatt (Hum hai jahan). Bands like Parikrama (But it rained)and PMC (Dil bharian) also feature on the album, providing variety that is meant to reflect the breadth of music popular in this country.
The video of the song Khelna Hai Re is currently on air on MTV, exclusively. It will be featured on all music channels, as well as a few others like CMM, Zee Cinema, Zee Alpha, SABe and Sahara by the first week of February.
Hero Honda, LG and Doordarshan are also associated with the album.
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.
