iWorld
Hero Group forays into edtech with ‘Hero Vired’
New Delhi: Tapping into the booming ed-tech market, the Hero Group has launched a new ed-tech company – Hero Vired – to adequately train and empower the workforce of the future. The launch accompanied the release of its new brand campaign, Be Made for BIG Things, which went live on social media and OTT platforms.
National award-winning actor Ashish Vidyarthi has lent his voice to the brand campaign, which attempts to showcase the importance of an end-to-end learning ecosystem for today’s workforce. It talks about how individuals have plans for their future that are larger than life, pushing them to try newer frontiers. “It is often this drive that sets them apart from the crowd. This is where Hero Vired will help individuals, learners and professionals to achieve them. The concept for this campaign was born from the fact that life is more than just another job,” stated the company during the launch.
Hero Vired head of programs & marketing Sushma Bharath said, “We believe that there’s more to life than just another job, increment or a degree. We want to bridge the gap between learning and employability by ensuring our efforts result in the real transformation of life and ambitions. Be Made For BIG Things is a campaign that will inspire people to look beyond the subjects and see the possibilities of tomorrow.”
AVDS founder and chief creative officer Arun Verma said, “Today's generation is not fixated on just another job title, salary or designation. They are looking for a larger purpose and a reason for being. Show them a dream that adds a purpose to their life, beyond just a career or organisational growth and they will be all in, committed to your vision. That is what Hero Vired creates – youngsters who want to be made for the human race, not the rat race.”
The film will be promoted across OTT platforms Disney+ Hotstar and Zee5 and social media platforms. It went live on YouTube on Tuesday evening.
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.
