e-commerce
Amazon orders three original kids series
MUMBAI: Amazon has ordered three new original kids series namely Dino Dana, The Kicks and Lost in Oz. Additionally, the company has also ordered half-hour special Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas to debut on Prime Video.
The new series come from creative talent including Aardman Animations, Bureau of Magic’s Mark Warshaw, Abram Makowka, Darin Mark and Jared Mark, novelist James Frey and J.J. Johnson.
All three series will be available for Prime members in the US, UK, Germany and Austria and will debut next year. Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas will make its world debut for Prime members in the US on 13 November.
“We’re excited to offer our Prime members a beautifully reimagined world in our first original kids 6-to-11 animated series and bring to the screen Alex Morgan’s successful book series with an inspirational role model at the core. Aardman and Sinking Ship are award-winning producers and we’re excited to debut Dino Dana and Shaun the Sheep on Prime Video,” said Amazon Studios head of kids programming Tara Sorensen.
A follow up to the 2015 Emmy award-winning series Dino Dan, Dino Dana is a preschool program that takes viewers on a whole new level of dinosaur encounters. The series will feature 16 new prehistoric creatures, an adopted baby dino and, for the first time, two sisters. Created and directed by J.J. Johnson, the series will be executive produced by Sinking Ship partners Johnson, Blair Powers and Matt Bishop, co-executive produced by Christin Simms and written by Johnson and Simms.
In The Kicks, a live-action series for children ages six to 11, Devin Burke (played by newcomer Sixx Orange) was the star player on her soccer team back home until her family moved to California midway through the school year. Now, Devin has to rise to the challenge after discovering that her new school team has been on a losing streak over the last few months and is badly in need of a leader to rally the team together. Based on a book series by US Olympic Gold Medalist and current US Women’s National Team soccer player Alex Morgan, the project is executive produced by Full Fathom Five’s novelist James Frey and Todd Cohen, as well as Andrew Orenstein. The series also stars E’myri Crutchfield as Zoe Hanson, Gabe Eggerling as Bailey Burke, Sophia Mitri Schloss as Emma Gelbaum, Monica Lacy as Sharon Burke, and Tim Martin Gleason as Tom Burke.
Lost in Oz is an animated, action-adventure comedy for children ages 6 to 11 set in a modern, metropolitan Emerald City. Stranded in this spectacular world, 12-year-old Dorothy Gale befriends West, a young, street-smart witch grappling with dark temptations, and Ojo, a giant munchkin. With Dorothy’s dog Toto, this unlikely crew embarks on an epic journey, seeking out the magic Dorothy needs to get back to Kansas. The challenge for Dorothy, and everyone else in this world, is that Oz is facing the greatest magic crisis in eons. Developed and produced by Bureau of Magic’s Mark Warshaw, Darin Mark, Jared Mark, and Abram Makowka, this contemporary re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s extraordinary universe is designed by Flaunt Productions, music by Adam Berry with theme music by Mark Mothersbaugh.
In Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas, the Farmer and Bitzer go to a Country Fair and Shaun accompanies them intent on causing mischief. The Aardman Animations special is written by Lee Pressman, Richard Starzak and Nick Vincent Murphy, directed by Jay Grace and produced by Paul Kewley & John Woolley.
e-commerce
Flipkart cuts around 300 jobs in annual performance review
E-commerce giant trims ~1.5 per cent of workforce as IPO preparations continue.
MUMBAI: Flipkart just gave performance the pink slip because when the annual review bell rings, even the biggest cart sometimes needs to lighten its load. Flipkart has let go of approximately 300 employees as part of its annual performance management cycle, Moneycontrol reported on 7 March 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. The exits represent roughly 1.5 per cent of the company’s total workforce of around 20,000 people across its businesses.
The move follows Flipkart’s standard practice of asking employees placed in lower performance bands to leave during yearly reviews, a process the company has carried out periodically in recent years. A similar exercise in early 2024 saw around 1,000 employees (nearly 5 per cent of the workforce) exit.
The latest round comes amid Flipkart’s continued push for operational efficiency and cost discipline, mirroring broader trends across the Indian startup ecosystem where funding slowdowns have shifted focus toward profitability.
The development also arrives as Flipkart advances preparations for a potential domestic IPO. The company has held early discussions with investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Kotak Mahindra Capital to explore feasibility. Industry sources indicate a possible listing timeline of late 2026 or early 2027, though the final size and schedule remain undecided.
In December 2025, Flipkart received National Company Law Tribunal approval to shift its holding company domicile from Singapore back to India. a key regulatory step that simplifies the group structure ahead of a public market debut.
Controlled by Walmart, Flipkart remains one of India’s largest e-commerce platforms, locked in fierce competition with Amazon. In a market where every rupee counts and every headcount is scrutinised, the latest cuts aren’t just housekeeping, they’re part of a bigger balancing act between growth ambitions and the road to listing.
