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Leonard A. Lauder
(Estée Lauder Companies)

Former Estée Lauder CEO Leonard A. Lauder passes away, leaving transformative beauty legacy

The longtime executive helped shape Estée Lauder into a global beauty leader with brand-defining deals and vision.

Nia Warfield

Longtime Estée Lauder Chairman Emeritus Leonard A. Lauder has passed away after more than 60 years with the company.

Leonard was the eldest son of Estée and Joseph H. Lauder, the founders of The Estée Lauder Companies. He officially joined the business in 1958, played a key role in its expansion, and was pivotal in the company’s transformation into a global beauty empire. He served as president from 1972 to 1995, CEO from 1982 to 1999, and chairman from 1995 through 2009.

In addition to establishing the company’s first research and development lab, Lauder was instrumental in acquiring some of the most recognizable names in beauty, including Aveda, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, and MAC Cosmetics.

Estée Lauder shares rose more than 10% Monday and is now flat on the year.

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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.

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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.

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