MAM
Restolex appoints Suresh Babu as CEO
Mumbai: Restolex, a sleep solutions company, has announced the appointment of Suresh Babu as chief executive officer. Bringing over 34 years of experience in the consumer goods and mattress industry, Suresh Babu is poised to leverage his extensive industry expertise and leadership to propel Restolex to new heights.
Prior to joining Restolex, Suresh Babu has amassed over 12 years of experience at Peps Industries, known for its spring mattress. As the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, his leadership played a pivotal role in the brand’s growth and positioning in India. Prior to this, he also had an impressive stint at Kurlon Enterprise Limited.
Restolex CEO Suresh Babu said, “I am happy and excited to join Restolex as Chief Executive Officer. A good night’s sleep is critical to empower individuals to achieve their fullest potential, and I have been fortunate enough to have gained extensive knowledge of sleep solutions over the past few decades. In this new role, our aim will be to help India sleep better through scientifically tested sleep solutions. Restolex boasts a rich legacy of creating high-quality mattresses and sleep products, and I look forward to being a part of the brand’s growth journey.”
Speaking on the appointment, Restolex director Daveed Kuruvilla said, “We are delighted to welcome Suresh Babu to the Restolex family. Restolex has been in the industry for the last 40 years, and we plan to aggressively scale our presence across India in the next few years. We are confident that his leadership will help usher the brand to new heights.”
In his new role, Suresh Babu aims to spearhead the brand’s pan-India expansion and boost its positioning as the mattress of choice for India’s discerning consumers. Leveraging the brand’s 40+ years of expertise in the mattress industry, Suresh plans to further expand the brand’s omnichannel retail footprint.
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.
