iWorld
‘Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘Test Case’, ‘Once Upon A Night’, ‘Boygiri’ & ‘Maya Thirai’ etc to be on ALTBalaji
MUMBAI: After making a mark in television and films, Balaji Telefilms Limited is all set to launch its OTT platform ALT Balaji. The company has forayed into the digital entertainment space with ALTBalaji that aims to reach out directly to Indian audiences by providing them with original, exclusive and premium content that they can access at their fingertips.
The shows will be streaming on the ALTBalaji app from the 16 April, 2017.
The shows that will be available on ALT include the much-awaited Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat featuring Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar, Nimrat Kaur-Juhi Chawla starrer The Test Case, Once Upon A Night, DEV DD, Romil and Jugal, Boygiri and regional show Maya Thirai (Tamil) among several others.
ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi said, “ALTBalaji’s vision is to acquire leadership position in digital entertainment space in India and globally. We are launching ALTBalaji platform formally in April 2017 with original shows at the time of launch in Hindi and other Indian languages. This hasn’t been done before by any other OTT platform thus far. This content is created and curated by Ekta Kapoor diligently for Indian masses. It’s no secret that we Indians have humongous appetite for non-English entertainment content and mobile as a personal device has acquired that platform advantage to view content, location and time that is personal to every 200Mn smartphone owner. This huge potential is what motivates us and we would strive to create such mass appeal shows. Our brand are our shows and we would do everything to learn and invest in creating best consumer experiences.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
