The week got off to a frenzied start on Monday morning when I learned that Estée Lauder Companies C.E.O. Fabrizio Freda would finally be stepping down at the end of this fiscal year. Ahead of its full year earnings and a depressing 2025 outlook, ELC announced that Freda had at last informed the board of his “intention to retire,” which comes just two months after longtime and well-regarded C.F.O Tracey Travis also decided to retire. Afterward, I heard about two more yet-to-be announced high-ranking departures, both of whom are on the ELC executive leadership team: Mark Loomis, group president of North America, and Peter Jueptner, group president of International. (A spokesperson for The Estée Lauder Companies declined to comment.)

That’s a lot of executive turnover for a company whose board has long insisted, as recently as June, that Freda wasn’t going anywhere. A person close to the situation told me that Fabrizio “made the decision to announce his retirement and then informed the board.” But reading between the lines of the curiously-worded announcement from Lauder, it sure sounds like Freda capitulated to the board, and not the other way around.