Brands
Spring House partners Refex Mobility for member commuting benefits
Ride perks for 10,000 plus members across 25 plus Delhi NCR workspaces.
MUMBAI: For many professionals, the workday begins long before the first email, somewhere between a cab cancellation and a surge priced ride. Spring House Workspaces is attempting to smooth that daily commute. The managed office space provider has partnered with Refex Mobility to introduce exclusive ride benefits for its members, extending its ecosystem beyond desks and meeting rooms to the journey that gets professionals there.
The initiative will cover more than 10,000 members across over 25 Spring House workspace locations in Delhi NCR. These centres collectively see an average daily footfall of more than 2,000 professionals, including entrepreneurs, startup teams, freelancers and corporate employees.
The collaboration comes at a time when urban commuters increasingly face challenges such as ride cancellations, unpredictable availability and fluctuating surge pricing. By integrating mobility services into its offering, Spring House hopes to provide members with a more reliable commuting option tailored to their daily routines.
Under the partnership, members will receive exclusive ride benefits on the Refex Mobility platform, allowing them access to more predictable transportation options for their work commute.
Spring House Workspaces founder and CEO Mukul Pasricha said reliable travel plays a crucial role in ensuring professionals can focus on work rather than logistics.
“At Spring House, our goal has always been to create an ecosystem that supports our members throughout their workday. Reliable commuting plays an important role in ensuring professionals can focus on their work without the added stress of unpredictable travel. This partnership allows us to extend greater convenience to our community,” he said.
Refex Mobility currently operates a fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles, facilitates over 5,000 rides daily and serves more than 100 corporate clients with structured mobility solutions designed for professional travel.
The move reflects a broader shift in the coworking sector, where workspace providers are increasingly expanding their value proposition beyond office infrastructure. By integrating services that simplify everyday routines, from commuting to community engagement, brands like Spring House are repositioning themselves as end to end professional ecosystems rather than just shared office spaces.
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.
