iWorld
#Fame ropes in Shah Rukh Khan for live stream with fans
MUMBAI: TO THE NEW Ventures’ live video social platform #fame has roped in Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan to interact with his fans globally with live beams.
Fans across the world will be able to chat live with Khan on 31 January on the #fame platform.
Khan enjoys a cult fan following across the world. With a global fan base exceeding a billion, SRK, as he is popularly called, will interact and engage with his fans through several live beams on #fame.
Khan said, “I have been fortunate to receive love and affection from so many lovely people from around the world, over the years. I don’t like calling them just my “fans,” they are the ones who love and support me and I always look for ways in which I can give back this love. Social media has been one easy way of connecting with a lot of them. #fame now will make video interaction possible with all of them and get me a step closer to them. So, I am delighted to invite everyone – Follow iamsrk on #fame. I look forward to my live beams and interactions on #fame.”
TO THE NEW Ventures CEO Puneet Johar added, “As a live video social platform, we have seen massive user growth with over three million installs within six months since launch across Asia and we are very excited to welcome Shah Rukh to the platform. We believe that Shah Rukh will inspire millions of talented young people to use #fame as a platform to showcase their talent to the world.”
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.
