Estée Lauder to cut up to 7,000 jobs globally

Source: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Beauty Reimagined is a strategic vision to restore the company’s sustainable sales growth and achieve stronger profitability.

The first step of the ‘Beauty Reimagined’ strategy is a sizable internal restructuring, which included between 5,800 and 7,000 job cuts.

The cuts represent up to 11% of its overall global workforce, with plans to eliminate some positions after retraining and redeploying certain employees, the company said in a statement on Tuesday, 4 February 2024.

The restructuring extends into the C-suite as well, just a month after de La Faverie took over the top spot as the new CEO.

The move is expected to cost between $1.2bn and $1.6bn in restructuring charges, including employee-related costs, contract terminations and asset write-offs.

The company’s net sales for the quarter ended 31 December 2024 fell 6% year over year to $4bn from $4.28bn. Estée Lauder swung to a $590m net loss for the quarter from $324m in net earnings the prior year.

“It’s the biggest operational change within our company’s history,” said de la Faverie.

These changes also include a consolidation of responsibilities and the creation of some new positions. Once fully implemented, Estée Lauder said the restructuring programme should deliver annual pre-tax gross benefits of $800m to $1bn. The company plans to reinvest a portion of this into consumer-facing activities.