iWorld
Emma Stone wins Best Actor Female on the 29 Critics Choice Awards
Mumbai: The 29 Critics Choice Awards was a dazzling array as stars graced the event all in style and true Hollywood glamor, as it witnessed the exceptional contributions of raw-talent. The awards recognised the brilliance of creative cinema in the past year. After sweeping the Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of Bella in Poor Things, Emma Stone has bagged yet another win at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Taking home the trophy for Best Actor Female, The Curse actress’ speech was heartfelt, hilarious and totally on brand.
The 29 Critics Choice Awards was streamed live on Lionsgate Play on 15 January 2024. If you missed it or want to watch it again, make sure to tune into the platform!
Showing her fellow nominees a whole lotta love, Stone said, “I’m going to be honest, I’m in like full blown shock. I didn’t have anything that I was going to say because this is completely crazy. This category is ridiculous – Lily (Gladstone), I mean come on. Margot (Robbie) – what in the. Carrie (Mulligan) – okay. Greta and Sandra Hüller. This doesn’t make any sense. Thank you so much for this, it means so much to me. I was being serious. I don’t know what to say.”
Further thanking her cast and crew, the La La Land actor added, “This table – here is the Poor Things table. This crew, this cast – Mark, Willam Ramy, Chris, Jerrod, Katherine, Hunter, Hanah, Shula – there’s so many unbelievable people that I was lucky enough to work with. Ed Guy and Andrew Low, Tony McNamer and Yorgos, who I call Yoro because that’s how we’re supposed to say it to a Greek man if we’re speaking to them. I love you, thank you for everything this is uh really wild. Playing Bella was one of the greatest joys of my life. I got to unlearn a lot of things in playing her. Unlearn parts of shame and societal stuff that gets put on us, and I’m still working on it.”
Ending with a joke in true Emma fashion, she said, “This is the Critics’ Choice Awards and it is about outside opinion but I’m very grateful to the critics for this. But I’m just learning not to care what you think.”
Marvel at Emma Stone’s genius in The Curse exclusively on Lionsgate Play.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
