iWorld
Netflix releases official trailer for cricket fever: Mumbai Indians
MUMBAI: Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians follows the Indian Premier League’s superstar team Mumbai Indians on the road through the course of the 2018 IPL season, as they sought to defend their 2017 IPL crown. The first look of the series highlights the tough backroom story of the then-defending champions and how they coped with the weight of expectations from all around, including from the passionate fans of the franchise from the Maximum City, Mumbai. This story of hard work, resilience and dedication will launch worldwide exclusively on Netflix on March 1, 2019.
Yuvraj Singh the latest addition to the team and Rohit Sharma the team captain took to Twitter to talk about the docu-series. See conversation here.
The docu-series showcases unseen action, both on and off the field, starting with the 2018 IPL auction, when the entire team was re-organised, and closes with the end of their IPL campaign. It charts the emotional arc of the team, including the intense pressure the team faces with the weight of Mumbai’s millions of citizens on their shoulders. The docu-series reveals highly personal and never-seen-before journeys of the young and talented team, led by captain Rohit Sharma, owners Nita and Akash Ambani and their coach Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene.
The trailer showcases the ups and downs of the team during the tournament, captain Rohit Sharma reflecting upon the challenges of leading the team, owner Akash Ambani speaking out on not tolerating any leaks from within the confines of the war room and the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar delivering a pep talk to the team within the dressing room.
The eight-part series will launch on Netflix worldwide on March 1, 2019.
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.
