iWorld
Victor Tango partners with NewsLaundry for research based dramatic series for OTT platforms
Mumbai: Victor Tango Entertainment and NewsLaundry have collaborated to produce compelling, credible, and investigative stories based on facts and extensive research.
The projects will be co-produced by Victor Tango and G.O.A.T. Studios. This partnership brings together organizations that have much in common, as well as experience and expertise in different fields. They will bring films and series that cover true crime, human interest stories, historical fiction, events of military significance and sports dramas that rely heavily on first-hand accounts, intense and credible investigative reports and exclusive information on some of the most riveting and dramatic stories that surround us.
Makers behind the recent hit espionage series Mukhbir – The story of a Spy, Victor Tango Entertainment has established a name for itself in the industry through quality content creation, events and productions. It has working relationships in place with key players like Netflix, Zee 5, Viacom 18, Amazon Prime Video, MX Player, TVF, Sony BBC Earth and Disney among many others. Multiple award-winning properties like Times of Music, Mukhbir, It’s Not That Simple, MTV Nishedh, and Litkids have come from the Victor Tango stables.
“These productions (films and series) will be based on investigations, human interest stories and ground reports that the award-winning team of journalists and producers at NewsLaundry have been doing since the last decade. The objective is to create compelling content that creates a lasting impact. Expect this collaboration to keep you entertained, informed but most important of all interested in true stories.” said NewsLaundry CEO Abhinandan Sekhri.
Commenting on the partnership,Victor Tango founders Vaibhav and Tabassum Modi said “We are passionate about telling stories of real India, real people. Through our alliance with NewsLaundry, we are tapping into stories seeped in empathetic journalism and thorough research. Our creative credentials and production know-how across genres will bring these stories home to all sorts of screens.”
Victor Tango Entertainment has under their belt a repertoire of content across scripted and non-scripted genres and their projects have been recipients of many awards including Filmfare OTT Awards, Asian Academy Creative Awards, Wow Awards Asia, Hitlist OTT Awards, Minnesota Webfest, EEMAX Global Awards and AFAQS Foxglove Awards to name a few.
G.O.A.T. Studios has been founded by Roopak Kapoor, Prashant Sareen and Avalok Langer. Roopak and Prashant are also the co-founders of Small Screen, which produces award-winning factual content for channels such as Discovery, NGC and History TV18. Avalok is an author, former investigative journalist and an award-winning filmmaker. G.O.A.T. ‘s vision is to produce impactful, insightful and thought-provoking stories that lean on facts and entertain like fiction.
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.
