iWorld
Pauline Fischer exits Netflix as VP original films
MUMBAI: Netflix’s Pauline Fischer has called it a day at the streaming service as the vice-president of original films. According to reports, Fischer is leaving her post in order to establish a business consultancy company. She will be transitioning out of the company over the coming weeks, and will remain as a consultant on active productions during this period.
The streaming service’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos shared his opinion about Fischer’s departure in a statement. Sarandos opined that she has mounted an incredible slate of original films for Netflix and the team is grateful to her for getting this important initiative underway.
He has also stated that Netflix, in the year ahead, will exclusively premiere David Ayer’s Bright starring Will Smith, War Machine from David Michod starring Brad Pitt, Bong Joon Ho’s Okja featuring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gylenhaal and Paul Dano; Our Souls at Night from Ritesh Batra starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, etc.
Netflix will continue to build its original film initiative to give consumers around the world great new movies to enjoy when and how they want.
Fischer joined Netflix in 2008 and has worked closely with Sarandos on building the company’s slate of acquired and produced new titles. Among the many projects she has overseen, Beasts of No Nation which reportedly was Netflix’s $12 million purchase in 2015 directed by Cary Fukunaga which coincided with the release on Netflix. She has also played a critical role in the Adam Sandler film The Ridiculous 6 and the Adam Wingard-directed Death Note.
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.
