iWorld
Viacom18 Motion Pictures forays into digital content
MUMBAI: Viacom18 Motion Pictures, India’s fully integrated motion pictures studio, has delivered a plethora of critically and commercially successful movies. It has always disrupted certain reliable formulas to ensure that the content remains true to its audience. Now, it is venturing into the digital space with Tipping Point, which will feature a host of web series, short films and non-traditional formats to entertain its online audience. The brand will extend the banner’s ethos by creating contemporary, engaging and path breaking content for online audiences.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare said, “Having conquered the big screen through unconventional narratives, it is time for Viacom18 Motion Pictures to make its mark in the rapidly emerging digital content space. Tipping Point – our digital content brand will appeal to consumers looking for edgy, contemporary, provocative yet relatable content typically missing in the traditional or mainstream media. Through Tipping Point, Viacom18 Motion Pictures will evolve from being a film studio into a holistic content studio, reaching beyond theatrical offerings into millions of screens on mobile & personal devices with its unique storytelling.”
As a part of the Tipping Point’s offering, the brand has announced collaborations with some of the best from the entertainment industry.
Speaking on this collaboration, producer Imtiaz Ali said, “Excited about my foray into digital series – very happy that Window Seat Films and I are working with the team at Viacom18 Motion Pictures. I have lived with this story for a long time and eager to bring it to life now.”
The list of soon-to-be-launched web series include ‘X Ray–Selected Satyajit Shorts’, a 12-part series presentation directed by the National award-winning filmmaker, Srijit Mukherji, an untitled crime thriller created by Imtiaz Ali, ‘Jamtara’ a story about a small district in Jharkhand, known to be India’s phishing capital, directed by Soumendra Padhi and ‘Best Days’, a psychological thriller by Abhishek Sengupta of the web-series Lakhon Mein Ek fame.
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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.
