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Scentsible

Estée Lauder’s Jo Malone is launching an “AI Scent Advisor” to convince people to buy perfumes without smelling them

Gen Z is driving a perfume and fragrance boom.

12/5/25 9:28AM

Gen Z is driving something of a fragrance boom at the moment, and Estée Lauder is looking to continue cashing in by debuting an “AI Scent Advisor,” developed with Google Cloud, that it hopes will convince online shoppers to spend north of $100 on fragrances through a chatbot conversation that tries to capture the intangible experience of smelling. Perhaps a dream-come-true moment for the so-called “frag heads” who look for seriously unique scents to match bizarre situations, or even memes.

The launch of the AI scent stylist gives another avenue for Estée Lauder to grow its stable of fragrance and perfume brands — a roster that includes Tom Ford, Frederic Malle, Le Labo, and Kilian. Indeed, the debut marks a pivotal step for a company that was late to go all in on online retail, but has been catching up quickly, with its fragrance division now the company’s fastest-growing segment, growing its sales 14.4% year on year as of the latest quarter.

Fragrance is driving Estee Lauder’s growth — Sherwood News

In fact, it’s the only division of the 79-year-old company that has managed constant, meaningful growth for the past few years, with fragrances notching an 89% jump in net sales since the first three months of 2018 — even as the wider beauty industry slumped.

Fragrance drove EL’s growth since 2018 — Sherwood News

Smells like teen spirit

Fragrance’s digital focus is not new: Spanish beauty giant Puig, whose fragrance and fashion segment, with labels like Carolina Herrera and Byredo, accounts for 73% of its entire business, is also doubling down on the visual appeal of perfume to attract younger consumers online. Last year, 26% of Puig’s revenues came from digital channels, more than the company had anticipated five years ago, thanks to the brand’s film-like marketing strategy… and teenage boys who became “obsessed with fragrance” through TikTok, in CEO Marc Puig’s words.

In fact, it’s very much not just girls driving the growth for the latest hype, too — annual fragrance spending reportedly jumped some 44% for teenage boys last year, per Piper Sandler research. And thanks to increasingly popular review websites like Fragrantica and big perfume houses’ push for visual focus and greater exposure in TikTok shops, many of these new, younger consumers love to “blind buy,” buying fragrances without even smelling them.

Teens wanting to be unique and special is certainly not a new thing, but in the perfumery world, that youthful desire, combined with new terms and trends like “scent layering” and “smellmaxxing” (meaning enhancing one’s own body scent, if you had to google), translates into, well, a lot of money.

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JM Smucker says it sold $1 billion worth of Uncrustables in FY2026

After years of booming sandwich sales, JM Smucker has finally earned a billion-dollar crust.

On Tuesday, the company reported results for fiscal year 2026, highlighting better-than-expected profits driven by higher prices for coffee and sweet baked goods. However, at another point on the earnings call, CEO Mark Smucker pointed to one particularly jammy figure: in line with previous forecasts, the company sold $1 billion worth of its (almost always) crustless sandwiches, Uncrustables, in the last year alone.

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Paramount reportedly offers concessions to resolve multistate antitrust investigation

Paramount has reportedly offered up some concessions in an effort to prevent an antitrust lawsuit by California and about 10 other states, according to Bloomberg reporting on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the potential suit from a group of unnamed states last week, which could throw a wrench in Paramount’s plans to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery in a Hollywood megamerger.

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

Paramount Offers Concessions to Head Off State Antitrust Lawsuit

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

$98B ⛽

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

The IATA released its latest financial outlook for the airline industry over the weekend, forecasting a $98 billion jump in the sector’s collective fuel bill. The world’s largest trade group representing airlines expects the oil spike to halve profits by 49% from last year to $23 billion.

The group also expects profit margins to halve year over year, falling from 2025’s 4.2% to 2%. Still, revenue is expected to climb to $1.17 trillion from $1.07 trillion.

A surge in the cost of jet fuel has rocked US and global airlines this year, leading Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and others to raise fares and ancillary charges like bag fees. Low-cost carriers, which operate on smaller margins, have been squeezed the hardest, resulting in Spirit’s shutdown.

“It’s a tough year for all airlines, especially those whose balance sheets had not yet recovered from COVID. And, of course, for those operating in the Gulf,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who added that demand is holding up and about half of passengers expect to spend more on travel this year. “That bodes well for a strong northern summer peak season. The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs of connectivity.”

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GM has reportedly rehired more than 100 former Cruise employees, 18 months after shuttering the robotaxi unit

GM has rehired more than 100 employees it let go early last year when it shuttered Cruise, its former robotaxi business, according to reporting by The Information.

The hiring spree, which also includes employees from Nvidia and Uber, is geared toward ramping up GM’s plans for personal-use self-driving vehicles and not robotaxis. The former had been the focus of Cruise, prior to GM shuttering it in 2024.

Reporting last fall revealed that GM was attempting to rehire some former Cruise employees, but the scope of that effort wasn’t clear. More than 1,000 employees were laid off when the automaker scrapped Cruise, which it invested $10 billion into.

Google’s Waymo, Cruise’s former chief rival, is now worth $126 billion after a $16 billion funding round earlier this year. The company says it’s serving 500,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US.