iWorld
Amazon Prime Video in 2019: ‘The Family Man’ most watched; ‘Jack Ryan’ most loved
MUMBAI: As 2019 comes to an end, Amazon Prime Video releases its yearly report card on the most loved and binged shows on its platform. The OTT platform, this year launched multiple Amazon Original series like Made in Heaven, Four More Shots Please, One Mic Stand and The Family Man.
With Manoj Bajpai’s digital debut on OTT platform, The Family Man became the most-watched Amazon Original in India to date, a press statement said. Similarly, other Indian Originals – Four More Shots Please!, Made In Heaven were among the most-watched shows in India in 2019.
In the international category, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan returned to Prime Video for its second season was most loved one by the members and had the biggest global premiere of any original.
In its year-ender press statement, the digital platform said, “Prime Video India is now watched across the length and breadth of the country in more than 4,000 towns and cities of India.”
Meanwhile, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel became the most awarded Amazon Original series ever with a total of 16 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes, 5 Critics Choice and 3 SAG Awards in 2019.
‘The Report’ had the biggest global premiere of any Amazon Original movie this year, the statement mentioned.
Besides English, Prime Video is now available in 9 Indian languages Indian languages viz. Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi and Bengali.
Similarly, the platform mentions that significant selection of Prime Video content now features show descriptions and subtitles in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.
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.
