MAM
Vishal Kumar returns to Madison World as VP, digital business (N+E)
Former Leapx.ai co-founder returns to lead digital growth across north and east markets
GURUGRAM: Madison World has welcomed back a familiar face. Vishal Kumar has been appointed vice president of digital business for the north and east portfolios, marking a homecoming to the agency where he once led non-traditional media solutions.
Based in Gurugram, Kumar will steer digital transformation and integrated marketing efforts across key markets. His brief is clear: tighten the link between media, data, technology and commerce, and turn that mix into measurable growth for clients.
He returns after a stint on the entrepreneurial side of the table. As co-founder and chief executive officer of Leapx.ai, Kumar built the DAC platform, a conversational multi-agent AI designed to simplify and optimise paid digital advertising. The experience added a start-up edge to his otherwise agency-heavy résumé.
Before Leapx.ai, Kumar spent over a decade in senior digital roles across GroupM, Wavemaker and Motivator, working on brands such as Apple, Sennheiser, Cars24 and Havells. His work ranged from e-commerce rollouts and data strategy to social, content and programmatic campaigns.
With this return, Madison World is betting on a blend of old familiarity and new-age thinking. For Kumar, it is less a new chapter and more a sequel, this time with a sharper digital script.
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.
