Wipro set to lose $500-million Estee Lauder contract to Accenture

The shift of Estee Lauder's $500-million contract to Accenture marks a setback for Wipro as CEO Srini Palia pushes large efficiency-led deals amid renewed focus on discretionary spending

Wipro is likely to lose a big deal from cosmetics company Estee Lauder with the contract about to go to Accenture, according to a person familiar with the matter.

 

The deal, worth about $500 million and for a period of five years, was signed under Wipro’s former chief executive Thierry Delaporte and included application development and maintenance

and infrastructure management services.

 

The contract, supposed to end this year, thus involved an annual revenue of $100 million. The size of the deal with Accenture was not immediately clear and neither the duration. The source said almost 90 per cent of the project will be given to Accenture.

 

Estee Lauder, known for brands such as Clinique and MAC, has been trying to revamp its technology infrastructure as it faces competition from online retailers, just as hundreds of traditional US retailers have over the last decade.

 

Wipro, Accenture, and Estee Lauder could not immediately respond to request for comment.

 

The loss of a marquee client will be a setback in Wipro CEO Srini Palia’s effort to turn around the company as he banks on large cost efficiency deals to boost revenue.

 

He said in January that the company will have a better visibility into client discretionary spending as they firm up their technology budgets though the priority lay in cost take out deals, vendor consolidation, and improving efficiency through artificial intelligence (AI).