iWorld
ABS-CBN dramas now streaming on MX Player
Mumbai: ABS-CBN continues to strengthen and expand its reach among international audiences through a strategic partnership with India’s OTT (over-the-top) market leader, MX Player.
The collaboration between ABS-CBN and MX Player is a first for both companies whose business operations extend across continents. ABS-CBN, a Philippine-based media and entertainment organisation, has been involved in content creation and production for nearly seven decades. The Company has international subsidiaries in the U.S., Canada, Middle East, Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Today, its content is available through cable/satellite, IPTV (video-on-demand set-top box), and iWantTFC (OTT).
MX Player, having bolstered its presence since its launch in 2019 with over a billion downloads, is now available as an OTT platform in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South America and parts of Asia. According to a press statement from MX Player, “MX Vdesi is a content category that is performing extremely well on our platform, and we strive to bring viewers compelling stories from around the world in an Indian language of their preference. We’re delighted to expand into a new international territory with the addition of these five Filipino titles and we believe the highly relevant and relatable narratives will strike a chord with Indian audiences.”
ABS-CBN, known for crossing borders through endeavours such as international co-productions, content adaptations, and multilingual distributions, deems the partnership a timely opportunity as the company expands its viewership to the international market. “In this partnership, ABS-CBN and MX Player are able to show to a wider range of audience the shared culture of Filipinos and Indians, and – more importantly – a true humanity through exceptional storytelling. Whether it’s about revenge or a love story, crime or action, family or society, viewers will surely find a story apt to their taste,” said ABS-CBN Global’s managing director for Asia Pacific region Maribel Hernaez.
MX Player users can now enjoy the following array of premium Filipino content dubbed in various Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, and Malayalam on their desktop and laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, smart TVs, internet-enabled devices and gaming consoles.
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.
