MAM
Yahoo launches anti-spam advertising campaign
LONDON: Internet service provider Yahoo! launched an advertising campaign to support the worldwide anti-spam initiative it is spearheading along with Microsoft and AOL. As part of Dump The Junk Day, Yahoo! has set up an e-mail address – dumpthejunkaward@yahoo.co.uk – to encourage people to name and shame people who perpetuate spam.
It has also developed a series of tips for Internet users and businesses on avoiding the pitfalls of spam, at www.yahoo.co.uk/emailmasterclass
Quoting Ferris Research, Yahoo said that unsolicited e-mail, which costs European companies around ?1.5bn a year, will exceed legitimate e-mail this summer unless action is taken now.
The “Dump The Junk Day” initiative, which is designed to educate the UK’s residents about spam via their rubbish, using branded dustbin lorries, binmen, bins and bags, was welcomed by e-commerce minister Stephen Timms.
“The privacy and electronic communications directive aims to crack down on unwanted e-mails and give control back to the consumer,” Timms was quoted as saying in a Computer Weekly report. “But regulation is only part of the solution. Technology has an important role to play and it is essential that we educate users on how to stop their inbox clogging up with unwanted e-mails. I applaud initiatives such as Yahoo’s ‘Dump the Junk Day’ that aim to do just that.”
‘Dump The Junk Day’ follows the release of a Yahoo European survey, which revealed that:
* 94 per cent of Brits surveyed find junk mail hugely annoying, but most do not know the best ways to tackle it.
* 56 per cent of Britons are unwittingly perpetuating the cycle of spam by replying to junk mail. Spammers often trap the public and confirm e-mail addresses are real by offering fake clauses to opt-out of a mailing list.
* More than 25 per cent of people had been fooled into opening junk mail believing it to be genuine communication
* Only 2 per cent of British Internet surfers have made a purchase in response to junk mail. However, if a junkmailer sells herbal Viagra for ?30, pays ?1,000 for a list of 100,000 e-mail addresses and gets a 2 per cent response rate, s/he will earn ?60,000.
Yahoo Mail, UK, head in the UK, John Webb was quoted as saying: “Our research shows that many British Internet surfers do not have the knowledge to tackle junk mail effectively with over half of Britons actually helping to perpetuate the junk mail cycle. This lack of know-how and the feeling of junk mail fatigue in the UK has inspired us to help educate the public and businesses. We don’t want to be in a situation where the number of junk mails sent overtakes solicited e-mails.”
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.
