MAM
Ten Sports sells 60% of ad inventory for India-Sri Lanka series, lines up sponsors
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has lined up three on-air sponsors for the India versus Sri Lanka series that kicks off on 21 July on Ten Cricket. The series will feature five ODIs and one Twenty20 match.
Hero MotoCorp has come on board as co-presenting sponsor. The broadcaster is in talks with at least three advertisers for the second co-presenting sponsorship slot.
Ten has signed up Royal Seagram and Lenovo as associate sponsors and is in advanced stage negotiations with Max New York life and Manipal University. Brands like Merck Pharma, Sony Vaio and Titan have also bought air-time.
The channel has sold 60 per cent of its ad inventory. “We aim to sell 90 per cent before the tournament kicks off and the balance 10 per cent will be sold at a premium,” says Zee chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal.
Kent RO is the title sponsor of the wraparound show, ‘Straight Drive‘. Luminous has taken Hawkeye sponsorship while Ambuja Cement is the Action Replay sponsor. “We are looking at four more associate sponsors for Straight Drive,” avers Sehgal.
Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that the company was looking at raking in Rs 900 million from the series, a target that media buyers had stated was too high. Micromax is the title sponsor while Royal Stag Cricket Gear is the on-ground associate sponsor.
While not talking about revenue expectations, Sehgal notes that the series will generate interest as India has not played cricket for two months. “We are looking at a total of six on-ground sponsors,” he adds.
The broadcaster will kick-off its 360 degree campaign with the theme of ‘One India One Jersey‘ starting 1 July. The aim is to convey the message that the team plays as one with one jersey.
The idea, Sehgal says, came about as this is the first event after the IPL where players wore jerseys of different teams.
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.
