iWorld
Vodafone Idea CEO Balesh Sharma resigns, Ravinder Takkar to take over
The Board of Vodafone Idea Limited today announced that it has accepted Balesh Sharma’s request for personal reasons to step down as CEO of Vodafone Idea. Balesh will be taking up a new role with Vodafone Group, which will be announced in due course. Ravinder Takkar, currently Vodafone Group’s representative in India, will be appointed as his successor with immediate effect.
Balesh has been the CEO of Vodafone Idea since the completion of the merger, and prior to that was Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India. He has overseen the successful integration of Vodafone Idea – resulting in the estimated timescale to complete the integration falling from four to just two years. Balesh has driven the strategy of the combined business since its formation and he has also spearheaded the largest-ever equity raise in India.
Ravinder Takkar, an experienced global executive, is currently a Board member of Vodafone Idea and Indus Towers, where he is responsible for all Vodafone Group interests in India, a role which he took on in 2017. Prior to his current role, Ravinder was the CEO of Vodafone Romania for three years and CEO of Vodafone Partner Markets in London. He has been with Vodafone Group since 1994 and brings a wealth of experience in telecom industry having worked in several leadership positions across Vodafone’s operating companies over the last 25 years.
Ravinder has been involved in the Indian telecom industry since 2007 when Vodafone Group entered the Indian market. He has held a number of senior roles in Strategy and Business Development and he was CEO of the Enterprise business.
Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “I would like to thank Balesh for his leadership and the successful integration of the two businesses. Under Balesh's stewardship, Vodafone Idea has realised a significant proportion of the synergies in a much shorter timescale than originally estimated. I wish him every success in his next role. I am pleased to welcome Ravinder Takkar as our new MD & CEO. Ravinder is well versed with the Vodafone Idea business context and I am confident that he will successfully steer the company through the next phase of development and help unlock its full potential.”
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.
