The Estée Lauder Companies announced on Friday that Ronald S. Lauder will retire from the U.S. beauty company’s board of directors, effective immediately.
Lauder joined the cosmetics giant in 1964 and has served in various capacities since. He was a member of the board of directors from 1968 to 1986, from 1988 to July 2009 and from 2016 through his most recent retirement.
In line with the stockholders’ agreement among Lauder family members and the New York-based company, Lauder has the right to designate two directors of the company. His daughter Jane Lauder will continue to serve on the board in her current position, and while Lauder’s son-in-law, Eric Zinterhofer, married to his daughter Aerin Lauder, has been named his second designee. Despite his stepping down from the board, Lauder will remain chairman of Clinique Laboratories.
With years of financial, investing and global business experience, Zinterhofer is currently a founding partner of Searchlight Capital Partners, where he serves on the firm’s investment committee, operating committee and valuation committee, and is jointly responsible for overseeing its activities with the two other founding partners.
Zinterhofer also serves on the boards of several portfolio companies of Searchlight including Care Advantage, Hemisphere, Liberty Latin America, and TelevisaUnivision, and serves as chairman of the board of Charter Communications. Prior to co-founding Searchlight, he was a senior partner at Apollo Management in New York.
“As a member of the Lauder family and director on the board, Ronald has been a steadfast advocate for The Estée Lauder Companies, our people, and our brands. His dedication and strategic vision have been integral to ensuring our company is built upon a strong foundation. On behalf of the organization, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for his remarkable service and leadership,” said William Lauder, chair of the board.
“I would also like to welcome Eric to the board. As a member of the family, Eric will continue to champion the values at the heart of our company while bringing a fresh perspective at this pivotal moment. We are confident Eric’s significant governance experience, strategic insight, and industry knowledge will be an asset to the company and advance our plans for long-term growth.”
In its most recent trading update in October, Estée Lauder pulled its annual sales and profit forecasts and cut its dividend as it faces an uncertain outlook in China.
German retail sales rose in 2024, but growth should be more modest this year due to the high level of uncertainty, according to retail association HDE.
Last year, retail sales rose 1.1% compared to the previous year in inflation-adjusted terms, official data showed on Friday. The HDE forecasts 0.5% growth in real terms this year.
“Consumption and the retail sector in Germany will not really gain momentum in 2025 either,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth. “There is simply too much uncertainty,” he said. “Wars, high energy costs and overall economic stagnation are a toxic cocktail for consumption.”
In nominal terms, retail sales rose by 2.5% in 2024 and are expected to grow by 2.0% in 2025, according to HDE’s forecast.
The latest HDE survey with 700 retailers shows that 22% of respondents expect sales to increase this year, while almost half of them expect results to be below the previous year’s level.
In December, retail sales fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month, official data showed. Analysts had predicted a 0.2% increase.
Many big names in UK retail had a good Christmas season — despite the sector being generally sluggish — but it seems John Lewis Partnership (JLP) may not have been one of them.
The retailer — which operates its eponymous department stores and webstore, plus Waitrose supermarkets — has missed its profit target after a disappointing festive season.
It hasn’t shared any info officially but internal documents seen by The Telegraph suggest bad news to come when it does release its results.
Those internal documents have only been shared with staff so far with the company saying that sales have fallen short of expectations and it’s unlikely to achieve its hoped-for £131 million full-year profit.
The company is said to have blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for the sales miss in the month to 21 December, although also the fact that key trading days fell outside the period.
Sales targets were missed at both of the firm’s chains, although the newspaper said it still claimed it outperformed rivals and staff should be “proud of our performance”.
It will be interesting therefore to see exactly what its figures were as a number of rivals have actually reported a good Christmas. If its stores have beaten other supermarkets and chains like M&S, perhaps its targets were too ambitious in the first place.
We won’t know for a while, but we do know that with M&S resurgent, JLP’s supermarkets and department stores have lost some of their lustre as the destination of choice for Britain’s middle classes.
So what were the firm’s benchmarks? Back in September it had said it was seeing strong demand and expected a significant rise in profits for the year to January. The prior year’s pre-tax profit had been £56 million and the year before that it made a loss.
It had also talked about its turnaround efforts paying off and that it was seeing a “considerable improvement” in performance, with the John Lewis chain in particular expected to benefit from a buoyant second half.
Christian Dior Couture announced on Friday that Kim Jones, its Dior Homme artistic director, is leaving the post after seven years.
It’s been rumoured for some time that he would exit the label but it’s not yet known what his next step will be.
Jones has been widely praised for his work at Dior with his latest men’s collection shown this month being hailed as a success.
He’s been a key creative at LVMH having also designed its Fendi women’s collections. And he helmed Louis Vuitton’s menswear before he joined Dior.
The company said it “wishes to express its deepest gratitude” to the designer “who has accelerated the development of Men’s collections internationally and has greatly contributed to the worldwide influence of the House by creating an inspiring wardrobe that is both classic and contemporary, and connected to some artists of our time”.
And Delphine Arnault, who’s chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture,added: “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable work done by Kim Jones, his studio, and the ateliers. With all his talent and creativity, he has constantly reinterpreted the House’s heritage with genuine freedom of tone and surprising, highly desirable artistic collaborations.”
Jones meanwhile called it a “true honour to have been able to create my collections within the House of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey. They have brought my creations to life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the artists and friends I have met through my collaborations. Lastly, I feel sincere gratitude towards Bernard and Delphine Arnault, who have given me their full support.”