Stephane de La Faverie, a contact of dynamism within the custom of luxurious | Opinion | EUROtoday

Right now, Stéphane de La Faverie (United States, 1973) is within the working room, holding a scalpel in his hand. The operation is advanced and the affected person, The Estée Lauder Companies, doesn’t arrive at its finest. The government, who has headed the American agency since 2024, is negotiating a attainable merger with Puig, the Catalan cosmetics and fragrance firm, proprietor of manufacturers akin to Carolina Herrera, Jean Paul Gaultier and Rabanne.

According to the assertion from the Spanish firm, which is valued at round 8.6 billion euros, no last resolution has been made nor any settlement reached. The operation can be structured round an change of shares and would give rise to a gaggle valued between 35,000 and 40,000 million euros. If it goes forward, it might combine two portfolios of complementary manufacturers and would preserve the founding households in related positions throughout the new group.

The transfer comes at a fragile time for The Estée Lauder Companies. The group seeks to rejuvenate after dropping near 80% of its inventory market worth within the final 5 years, affected by the drop in gross sales and profitability. The firm is valued at about $26 billion (22 billion euros, on the present change price) and recorded a turnover of $14.3 billion in 2025, 20% lower than three years earlier.

It wasn’t at all times like this. 2021 marked its finest historic yr, with a revenue of $2.87 billion. Since then, the deterioration has been progressive: final yr it closed within the crimson, with losses of 1,133 million, largely burdened by restructuring prices of greater than 1,100 million.

At the second, the Stock Market has not purchased the motion. The punishment was nearly rapid: on the day the negotiations broke, the shares fell 7.7%. In the next days, the decline widened till it erased greater than $6 billion in capitalization, a cumulative drop of near 22%.

De La Faverie got here to workplace after an intense debate throughout the household between choosing an inner candidate or hiring an exterior government. The last resolution was an intermediate answer: somebody who didn’t belong to the household, however did belong to the home. The French government joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 2011 and has been climbing positions throughout the group since then.

They describe him as a dynamic particular person, somebody who introduces a contact of enjoyable into a company atmosphere dominated by darkish blue fits and a sure rigidity. He was born within the United States, however raised in France. He has lived on three continents: Europe, North America and Australia. Once a month he travels to Morocco to spend time along with his youngsters. His job requires him to be in fixed motion. He defends it: to run a worldwide firm properly, you need to tread the bottom. “Not everything comes from New York, not everything has to go to New York.”

He skilled at ESC Bordeaux Business School – immediately built-in into Kedge Business School, with a campus in Talence, close to Bordeaux. After graduating, she started her profession at L’Oréal, throughout the massive cosmetics group. She began at Lancôme, one in all its historic manufacturers, centered on fragrance, make-up and skincare.

From there he made the leap to the division of journey retail as luxurious merchandise supervisor in North America, the place he was in control of the posh magnificence enterprise in journey channels: airports, obligation free and different worldwide transit factors. His subsequent vacation spot was Australia, the place he assumed the place of common director of the Lancôme subsidiary. In 2006 he returned to the United States as vice chairman of promoting for Lancôme, overseeing the areas of skincare and fragrances. Before leaving the group, his final place was common director within the US of Giorgio Armani Beauty, additionally inside L’Oréal.

He joined The Estée Lauder Companies in January 2011. His profile is that of somebody who has labored with luxurious magnificence manufacturers, with expertise in worldwide markets, with direct duty for the enterprise past advertising and with expertise within the United States.

In 2016 the primary huge leap occurred, when he was named world model president of Estée Lauder. In 2022 he’s promoted to government president. At this stage he begins to oversee a broad set of manufacturers, particularly within the perfume space, together with Jo Malone London, Le Labo or Tom Ford Beauty, bought in 2022 for round $2.8 billion.

His journey culminates in 2024, when he’s appointed CEO, changing Fabrizio Freda, who retired after greater than 16 years on the head of the group. He takes workplace in a context of deteriorating outcomes, marked partially by the weak point of the channel journey retailkey for the corporate, and as a result of slowdown in markets akin to China.

In this state of affairs, the group begins to evaluate a few of its historic choices. For years, they averted platforms like Amazon due to the danger of diluting their model picture. Since 2024, nonetheless, they’ve modified their technique and have began promoting straight within the magnificence showcase premium of the marketincorporating official shops and personal digital instruments.

This change of channel is a part of the Beauty Reimagined reorganization program, launched final yr. It consists of adjustments within the inner construction, within the provide chain and in product growth, in addition to a value discount program that contemplates the elimination of as much as 7,000 jobs. The adjustment extends a earlier minimize that started in 2023.

If it materializes, the operation with Puig can be his most necessary transfer thus far on the head of The Estée Lauder Companies. In the approaching weeks will probably be recognized if the scalpel manages to avoid wasting the affected person or finally ends up aggravating his situation.