MAM
Potter! Potter! everywhere, served on silver platter
MUMBAI: “Aparecium!” The ink on the latest helping of Harry Potter has finally been made visible and Crossword is leaving no magic wands unwaved to give kids the true Hogwarts experience as J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hit the shelves today (16 July).
The release of the sixth Potter book is expected to be the biggest ever event in the book industry, and Crossword is at the center of Pottermania in India.
The bookstore in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has converted its stores into an exciting fun-filled destination for kids and adults alike.
Kids will be treated to a host of activities at the Crossword stores like getting a photograph at ICICI Pru’s SmartKid Pottermania Studio and a Tattoo Stall where kids can get Harry Potter’s distinctive lightning scar painted on their forehead, an authentic sorting ceremony, where kids can find out which Hogwarts house they belong to — Griffyndor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. There will be badges for these houses as well. Also a Jigsaw Puzzle Stall, where each kid can come and try his/her hand at the puzzle, Magic Shows and much more is what’s in store!
“We are delighted to have Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with us – the book we’ve been eagerly awaiting for two years! The customer interest has been phenomenal – amongst both children and grown-ups – even more than the earlier books,” said Crossword Bookstores Ltd chief executive officer and managing director R Sriram.
One of the highlights of Pottermania, ICICI Pru’s SmartKid Pottermania studio will bring Harry Potter alive for children by giving them a chance to don the wizard garb and pose for a memento photograph in front of Hogwarts castle.
Complete with a robe, wand, glasses and scar on the forehead, parents can see their children dressed up as the iconic wizard, and walk out with not just a book but also a treasured memory!
It’s the first time such an activity has been done in India, and is sure to be a huge hit amongst the thousands of people expected at the store on just the first day.
“We decided to use an interactive, non-intrusive platform, to reach out to parents through their kids. Harry Potter is a fantastic fit with our SmartKid brand – he is an icon for children around the world. Having a studio, where parents could see their kids dressed in Harry Potter’s robe worked as a simple and effective way of grabbing their attention in an interesting way and exposing them to ICICI Prudential,” said ICICI Prudential Life Insurance head – marketing Sujit Ganguli.
ICICI Pru’s SmartKid Pottermania photograph studios will be at Crossword bookstores in Mumbai for the three consecutive weekends – 16 – 17 July, 23 – 24 July and 30 – 31 July, and in Gurgaon on 16, 23 and 30 July.
Child actor Atith Naik of Kal Ho Na Ho fame will cast a spell at the release of the new book at the Crossword Bookstore in Mumbai.
The bookstore has also lined up a slew of activities for all Potter Fans in the days to come.
Surely the “Wingardium Leviosa!” spell (which makes things fly) has been cast as far as excitement is concerned amongst us ‘Muggles’!
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.
