Stéphane de La Faverie will succeed Fabrizo Freda on Jan. 1 2025 as chief executive of Estée Lauder Companies, the company confirmed today.

de La Faverie has been with Estée Lauder Companies for over 13 years, serving in various leadership roles, mostly recently as executive group president, a position she held for two years. Before joining the company in 2011, he served as a senior vice president at L’Oréal. Additionally, William P. Lauder will step down from his current role as executive chairman, but remain chair of the board of directors.

His appointment confirms rumours from Monday, when the Wall Street Journal reported he had been selected.

It also puts to bed years of speculation. After Estée Lauder’s stock price began a continued slide in 2022, analysts began to question Freda’s leadership, which quickly led to questions over who would succeed him in the top executive role. Its stock is down more than 35 percent since the start of the year; its 2024 forecast, announced in August, missed analyst expectations again.

While the founding Lauder family own 38 percent of the common stock; they control 86 percent of voting rights, and analysts surmised that the family would prefer an internal candidate.

In partnership with Jane Lauder, the chief data officer who announced on Monday she would step down from her role and was thought to also be in contention for the top job, de La Faverie has been leading the Estée Lauder’s “profit growth and recovery plan” since 2023, designed to reboot the company’s flagging performance, with a focus on rebuilding core brand equity and improving its performance in Asia, a stubborn drag on its results.

The duo have already enacted several changes, including brand refreshes and marketing revamps on top brands like Mac Cosmetics and Clinique, and bringing some of its brands, such as Lab Series and Bumble and Bumble, onto Amazon to help the company transition from its historical over-reliance on department stores. ELC has also opened a new production facility in Asia to help streamline its ordering and inventory management.

In a statement, William P. Lauder said, “Stéphane’s deep-rooted industry and operational expertise, and his collaborative and dynamic approach, make him the ideal CEO to move us forward with speed, and urgency,” adding that his strategic vision drive long-term, transformational new approaches for the company.

Stay tuned to BoF for updates on this developing story.