MAM
Outdoor industry bears brunt of rains
MUMBAI: The outdoor industry, an intrinsic element of Mumbai’s skyline, has also suffered the consequences of the rains that battered the city this past week.
Hoardings faced the full wrath of the hard-hitting rains and gusty winds.
Some of the campaigns that were affected: HDFC, Indian Express, Zee TV’s new show HouZee, Mukta Arts’ new movie Iqbal (directed by Nagesh Kukunoor) and Hindustan Times.
Some hoardings were damaged by the strong winds, some tore and some came off. Mobile hoarding vans, on the other hand, had to stay put at the place they were parked at on 26 June for as many as four days.
An official from Bright Advertising said that since there was no transport, there was a delay in collection of the flex and hence a delay in putting up hoardings. “The Indian Express hoarding that we put up last week split open and has been spoilt. Also, we had a lot of difficulty in putting up a 40×40 hoarding of Zee TV’s new show HouZee’s at the Bandra flyover. We somehow managed to put it up, but it came loose and we had to put it up all over again. HDFC’s hoardings in Andheri, Opera House and Santa Cruz were affected. Thankfully, the clients didn’t put pressure on us as they knew the gravity of the situation last week.”
Zenith Outdoor managing director Yash Gala said, “In South Mumbai we managed to change the on-going campaign of DNA during last week’s rains. There were a few hoardings of Hindustan Times that we managed to change. But overall, we did not have any vacant sites as all our sites were booked in advance. The new campaign of Indian Express was launched. No major campaign was affected as such. We faced some problems in Bandra Linking Road and Mahim Causeway. We weren’t working on Tuesday and Wednesday just like most others.”
M’cons Advertising assistant consultant (outdoor) Mohammed Reza informed that three of their hoarding vans were damaged. “However, the damage was not too grave. We had to change the oil of our three vehicles, which cost not more than Rs. 6000 – Rs. 8000. There was no serious technical damage to our vehicles.”
M’cons vans were repaired at the service center at Saki Naka (which was one of the worst affected areas). The water had affected the hydraulic system of the vans that prevented the lifting up of the displays. One van was stranded on the Bandra highway and the other two were near the airport.
The vehicles could not be moved for four days and the van drivers and other technicians had to work extra shifts.
The new HDFC campaign, which was supposed to be launched on 1 August was postponed by a day. “The client understood our problem and we have adequately compensated them because of the delay and also keeping in mind that we have to maintain a long term relationship with them,” said Reza.
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.
