Brands
Uber hits the accelerator on teen independence with rides made for Gen Z
MUMBAI: When the school bell rings and the parental cab service is running late (again), Uber has now entered the chat. In a bold new move to appeal to both helicopter parents and freedom-craving teens, Uber India launched ‘Uber for Teens’ on April 2, 2025. The service now operates across 37 Indian cities, including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and even Bhubaneswar—because, let’s face it, teenagers everywhere need a lift.
Built for those aged 13 to 17, the product is pitched as the perfect mix of parental peace of mind and teenage cool. “We recognise the unique transportation challenges faced by teenagers and their families in India,” said Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh. “With Uber for Teens, we are committed to addressing these challenges by providing a service that parents can trust, and that teens will find easy and cool to use.”
And Uber’s not winging this. The service comes wrapped in a triple safety bow—GPS tracking, real-time ride updates, and an in-app emergency button. Parents can monitor the entire ride, from door to destination, with the kind of surveillance previously reserved for spy movies.
Setting it up is simple: parents invite their teen via the app, the teen adds the parent as a guardian, and voila—your teenager is now mobile, but watched like a hawk. Guardians can also book rides for their kids, turning the Uber app into the ultimate remote-control chauffeur.
Uber backed this move with some serious homework. In a recent survey, 92 per cent of Indian parents said their teens had missed out on activities due to lack of transport. A whopping 72 per cent cited safety as their top concern. Meanwhile, 93 per cent admitted they’d happily jump on a secure rideshare option for their teens, with 64 per cent saying they’d use it regularly. And let’s be honest, they’d probably rate it five stars for convenience alone.
Whether it’s getting to football practice, tuition class, or a BFF’s birthday bash, Uber for Teens promises a ride experience that’s teen-tested and parent-approved. For families juggling work, life, and teen drama—this might just be the app they never knew they needed.
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.
