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Estée in Distress

After a series of disappointing quarters, how can America’s oldest and most prestigious beauty conglomerate get younger—and fast?

Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder Companies’s strategic missteps, on some level, stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of how “luxury” is defined by the average American consumer. Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Contributor
Rachel Strugatz
February 7, 2024

On Monday, The Estée Lauder Companies reported what seemed like jejune or even slightly bleak earnings: Sales declined for a sixth consecutive quarter, net sales dropped by seven percent, and the management team announced a restructuring plan to lay off up to 5 percent of its workforce, or roughly 3,100 positions. And yet, this not-good-but-could-be-worse performance delighted Wall Street analysts. The stock jumped 12 percent, itself an indication of the current state of affairs at America’s largest family-controlled beauty conglomerate.