iWorld
Amazon Prime Video’s Original -Jestination Unknown to premiere on October 18
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video today launched the trailer of its upcoming first-of-its-kind comedy travelogue, Amazon Original Series, Jestination Unknown. The Unscripted Amazon Original Series features six episodes starring India’s funny man, Vir Das and a group of his comedian friends, who embark on a journey across the country to find an answer to the question plaguing every Indian comic, “What does India find funny?” The show follows Vir Das, along with his set of friends, through Jodhpur to explore the history of jesters, Patiala where they discover comedy of clichés, Lucknow as a destination of hasya kavis, Mysore for its idiosyncratic comedy, Kumarakom where comedy after tragedy is explored and Leh – to discover what makes people from the harshest region of the country laugh.
The Amazon Original Series also features top Indian comedians, namely, Anu Menon, Ashwin Mushran, Raj Sharma, Amogh Ranadive, Manan Desai, Amit Tandon, Shruti Seth, Suresh Menon and Rohini Ramanathan as they accompany Vir on his travels. The show will launch on October 18, 2019 across 200 countries and territories, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Speaking about their latest Amazon Original offering, Amazon Prime Video India Director and Head, Content Vijay Subramaniam said, “Reality shows are very popular in India and that too across a variety of genres. At Amazon, we want to experiment with exciting new formats in the reality genre for customers while working with top content creators and talent. With Jestination Unknown, we aim to find out what kind of comedy tickles the funny bone of Indians across the country and we are excited to offer a unique concept through Jestination Unknown to our viewers”.
Vir Das, comedian, host and also the producer of the show said, “If you head out into the world beyond your comfort zone to find out what the people there find funny, take some crazy friends along, you're going to experience India in a way you never did before. That’s what show is about …the madness of India leading to the madness on stage and we’re thrilled to partner with Amazon Prime Video to make Jestination Unknown and show to the world the things that make India so unique."
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.
