iWorld
Netflix may hit critical point of business very soon
MUMBAI: Netflix may soon witness a crucial moment in its business soon. After William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart said on Monday that the stock can rise 22 per cent by the end of the year, shares of the streaming giant gained more than 3 per cent.
Since the gain in stock in the first two weeks of 2019, Netflix stock has been stuck in a tight trading range without actually moving towards higher or lower direction. Hence, Monday’s suggestion has come as a significant boost to the OTT platform.
According to a report from CNBC, research firm Bespoke said that this is Netflix’s tightest trading range on record and after such a long period of consolidation the stock could be poised for a big move higher or lower.
The report also added that another analyst, Fairlead Strategies’ Katie Stockton is predicting a higher move as the stock has reached oversold levels. Moreover, the media giant is also trading above its 200-day moving average which she believes also indicates the continuation of a long-term uptrend.
“There are a couple of things working for the chart. It’s in a long-term uptrend. We do tend to look at ranges within long-term uptrends as continuation patterns, and of course strong support and a strong tape,” she said as quoted by CNBC. But according to her, the stock needs to surpass $387 to climb even higher.
“We need to see some kind of breakout of course from this range for a positive long-term technical catalyst, but Netflix is oversold after having underperformed, so it’s at this proving ground right now on its chart,” she added.
While Netflix, the most expensive of the FANG stocks, trades at 78 times forward earnings, Point View Wealth Management’s John Petrides thinks the valuation is unjustified because of slowdown in subscriber growth and an increase in streaming competition.
“The market knows that they have a first-mover advantage in streaming, but that’s really discounting very high future cash flows,” he commented as quoted by CNBC. He also thinks that Netflix is in an unfavourable position compared to peers in terms of content as “they don’t have a library” and instead buy original content.
“They’re burning through $2 – $3 billion a year in free cash flow. The moment that stops is when I think ironically the valuation comes flying out of the stock,” he added.
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.
