iWorld
ZEE5 announces Blockbuster February; unveils Originals’ line-up for global audience
MUMBAI: ZEE5 today announced a lineup of Star-Studded Originals for February for its global audiences. Ranging from a procedural crime thriller to a high suspense drama, the content line-up promises a riveting and high-octane month for South Asians audiences across the globe.
The Final Call: premiering on 22nd February stars Arjun Rampal, in his digital debut, as a suicidal pilot on duty. Based on Priya Kumar’s book, ‘I will go with you, this gripping thriller also stars Sakshi Tanwar and Jaaved Jaaferi.
Abhay: Kunal Kemmu in his digital debut plays an investigative officer who solves bone chilling murder cases while dealing with his own personal demons, in the first procedural format crime thriller Abhay which premiered on ZEE5 on 7th February
Sharate Aaj: ZEE5’s biggest Bengali Original yet, Sharate Aaj, debuts on February 21st and stars well known Bengali actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay. Shot completely in London, the show traces the lives of a close-knit Bengali community getting set to celebrate Pujo while being hit by a terror attack conspiracy.
Also lined up for February are Tamil originals like D7 and Kalavu, Malayalam originals like Mirror and Aarpoo as well as Marathi original Sex, Drugs and Theatre. While ZEE5 Originals, Rangbaaz and the Marathi show Date with Saie are now also available in Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Kannada, Marathi and Malayalam.
“We’re constantly working to layer our offering with a range of high- octane Originals, handpicked movies and our ever-popular TV Shows, across languages and genres for our global audiences. We’ve got a tremendous response for ZEE5 especially in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With such a fabulous lineup of shows, we’re looking forward to replicating this success very soon across other markets too.” said Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer – ZEE5 Global
With over 1,00,000 hours of Indian TV Shows, Movies, News and Videos, ZEE5 offers the largest bouquet of content across 12 languages to South Asian audiences across the globe. ZEE5 also offers 60+ popular Live TV channels, including ZEE’s best loved channels.
ZEE5 is available on Google Play Store, iOS App Store, www.ZEE5.com as well as on Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV, Android TVs and Amazon Fire TV.
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.
