iWorld
ZEE5 partners with India Alive Short Film Festival
MUMBAI: ZEE5, India's fastest growing OTT platform, has partnered with India Alive Short Film Festival 2019 to offer a unique learning opportunity toless fortunate and marginalized children across India. We are proud to provide a platform to these young talented creative minds an internship to hone their skills with the industry best at ZEE5. Consumers can watch these short films exclusively on the ZEE5 app.
In this first-of-its-kind initiative, ZEE5 and Filmbug have partnered tooffer a platform to children who have a very different view and experience of life, that they have brought alive through this heart-warming initiative. The 2019 edition of the Festival will present interesting films such as Apun Ka Cinema, Zindagi Se Jung, TumhaariAdhurSoch, SacchaSangarsh, Khushi, Nakusha (unwanted), Moklik (Freedom), Main Zinda Hun, Kyun, No Oxygen and Dark & Lovely that aim to open up discussions about issues that are usually hushed up or go unspoken.
The evening saw presence of noted personalities such as Jackie Shroff, Smita Thackeray, Kabir Bedi, Satish Kaushik,Sudhir Mishra, Kunal Kohli, Ranvijay Singh, Shaan, Siddharth Anand, Sanjay Mishra, Ritesh Shah and Jayati Bhatia among others.
Yogesh Manwani, Head – News & Stories, ZEE5 India, said, “We are thrilled to associate with India Alive Short Film Festival and showcase all films shown at the festival exclusively on ZEE5. It was a treat to watch all the short films and the hard work that was put in by these gifted children. We are proud to provide a platform to these young talented creative minds an internship to hone their skills with the industry best at ZEE5. As India’s fastest growing OTT platform, we will continue our endevaour to provide best of entertainment for our consumer anytime, anywhere.”
NameetaPremkumar, Founder& Director, Film Bug, said, “It is very encouraging to see the film fraternity stepping forward to support and motivate the children and appreciate,it drives them to work better and we are happy to see phenomenal result.” Kapil Mattoo, Co-Founder& Director Film Bug, further added, “They need right guidance and avenue to move forward in this field,we are doing our bit and urge industry to join in and let’s give it back to the industry which has given us so much of love and respect.”
With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, 35+ theatre plays and 80+ LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 truly presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation and worldwide. With ZEE5, the global content of Zindagi as a brand, which was widely appreciated across the country, has also been brought back for its loyal viewers.
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.
