MAM
Fifa, Hollywood team up for movie trilogy
ZURICH: Now fans of football can feast on action on the silver screen with the help of tinseltown magic. Fifa and some of the leading producers in the US film industry have announced a co-operation agreement.
This will set the pace for the ‘worlds favourite sport’ to be at the centre of a major Hollywood trilogy. The first film is scheduled to be launched next year.
Producer Lawrence Bender, who has produced virtually all Quentin Tarantino’s films to date including the Oscar winner Pulp Fiction has joined forces with producers and former media and sports industry executives Mike Jefferies and Matt Barrelle. They are developing what is being billed as the most powerful football movie of all time.
The contract was signed yesterday between Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Bender. Goal! tells the fictional story of a Latino soccer player who rises from the slums of Los Angeles to join a small northern English club and eventually plays in the World Cup. The sequel in expected in 2005 and the third film in 2006. Reports have stated that Bender has likened the series to the Sylvester Stallone Rocky films which dealt with boxing. The budget for the first film has been pegged at $30 million.
With this agreement Pelé’s words have proven prophetic. “Football is entertainment, and the entertainment industry will increasingly notice football in the future”. Meanwhile an AP report indicates that Fifa will not have any direct financial involvement in the movie. Its role will involve endorsing and marketing the film, introducing film makers to its sponsors and providing technical support.
Talks for cooperation are at an advanced stage with English Premiership clubs, including Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool the report states. Actors chosen will attend an intensive training camp in the UK in mid-October.
Brands
Oracle layoffs affect up to 30,000 employees globally
Job cuts span US, India and more, staff cite abrupt emails, uncertainty.
MUMBAI: April began with an inbox shock and for thousands, it ended with an exit. Oracle has carried out a sweeping round of layoffs, impacting an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees across its global operations, even as the company continues to report strong business performance. The job cuts were communicated via emails sent early on April 1, affecting staff across multiple regions including the United States, India, Canada and parts of Latin America. The reduction spans a wide range of roles and functions, though the company has not disclosed specific criteria behind the decisions.
In the days following the layoffs, employees have taken to platforms such as LinkedIn to share their experiences, many describing the process as abrupt and unsettling. Several posts pointed to a lack of prior indication, with notifications arriving suddenly in early-morning messages.
A recurring concern has been the impact on long-tenured staff. Users reported that employees with decades of experience were among those let go, raising broader questions about job security even for seasoned professionals within large technology firms.
The layoffs have also sparked anxiety about the wider direction of the sector. As companies continue to invest heavily in automation and artificial intelligence, workforce recalibration is becoming more common often accompanied by uncertainty around future roles and skills.
For many affected employees, the immediate challenge lies in navigating career transitions in an increasingly competitive job market, with posts reflecting concerns about stability and next steps.
The development comes against a backdrop of strong financial performance at Oracle, which recently reported a 22 percent year-on-year increase in revenue, alongside continued growth in its cloud infrastructure business. The company has also been committing significant capital towards artificial intelligence and data centre expansion.
The contrast between growth and job cuts has added to the unease, underscoring a broader shift in how large technology firms balance expansion with efficiency sometimes at the cost of the very workforce that helped build that growth.
