iWorld
Apple TV recruits Netflix engineer to enhance subscription services
MUMBAI: Apple has hired one of Netflix’s top engineers Ruslan Meshenberg. He joined the technical team working for the company’s newly launched TV-streaming and subscription services. Ruslan Meshenberg was responsible for building Netflix’s platform, especially creating a speedier and consistent service for audiences. He helped build out a smoother platform with higher latency.
According to reports, Michael Abbott, a former engineer with twitter who joined Apple last year is recruiting experienced engineers for Apple’s technical team. With Apple’s services expanding in recent times higher revenue generation, its decision to strengthen the technical department is no surprise.
Meshenberg joins Apple at the time when it is expanding its $4.99-a-month TV+ service, bringing in additional movies and originals. This comes out as a complex move that has tripped up other competitors in the streaming world.
Apple seems to have learned its lesson from Disney’s streaming platform Disney + who had a failed launch with subscribers not being able to login due to technical issues.
In the past couple of years, Apple has struggled to keep up with its technology rivals in terms of its performance and newly launched services like iCloud, Maps and its music-streaming business. For example, its subscription-based magazine service; News+ faced heavy criticism from analysts and reviewers for its default sync system.
However, Apple TV+ has not faced any major issues since its launch. Meshenberg has the expertise to help address the company’s technical challenges. While being at Netflix, he managed to run most of the infrastructure enabling to increase the streaming with more than one billion hours of weekly programming.
Moreover, Apple TV+ which started in November with few shows in its kitty is now prepping up to add a bundle of TV movies and shows to its bucket and tapping the international market. It will help Apple to compete against streaming giants including Netflix, HBO, Amazon and Disney.
This kind of talent acquisition is certainly helpful for strengthening the end-user experience, which is beneficial for consumers who are paying hefty amounts to enjoy a better quality product.
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.
