Brands
Reliance acquires majority stake in UrbanLadder
New Delhi: Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries continues with its acquisition streak. After acquiring stakes in NetMeds, Future Group and Flipkart, it has now taken a controlling stake in the popular furniture etailer UrbanLadder.
RRVL has acquired 96 per cent equity holding in Urban Ladder Home Décor Solutions Pvt Ltd (Urban Ladder) against an investment of Rs 182.12 crore. RRVL has a further option of acquiring the balance stake, taking its shareholding to 100 per cent of the equity share capital of UrbanLadder.
RRVL has proposed to make a further investment of up to Rs 75 crore, which is expected to be completed by December 2023.
The acquisition further helps Reliance to expand its product portfolio and widen its offerings to the consumers. Some of these categories are apparel, electronics, white goods, groceries, medicines, furniture, and others.
“The aforesaid investment will further enable the group’s digital and new commerce initiatives and widen the bouquet of consumer products provided by the group, while enhancing user engagement and experience across its retail offerings.”
UrbanLadder was one of the earliest entrants in online furniture retailing. It started operations in February 2012 and has been selling home furniture and décor products. It also has a chain of retail stores in several cities across India.
As per a BSE listing, UrbanLadder’s audited turnover was Rs 434.00 crore, Rs 151.22 crore and Rs 50.61 crore, and Net Profit / (Loss) of Rs 49.41 crore, Rs (118.66) crore and Rs (457.97) crore in FY 2019, FY 2018 and FY 2017 respectively.
The furniture retailer has created a big online community and strong recall. It has nearly 830k+ members on Facebook and 185k members on Instagram. It is also expected to have a strong pool of databases of consumers that will help Reliance new commerce initiatives in the long run.
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.
