iWorld
ZEE5 celebrates five years with LuLu Group in the Middle East with exciting offers and Fan Meet
Mumbai: ZEE5 Global, the world’s largest streaming platform for South Asian content, recently completed five years of their partnership with LuLu Hypermarket, the most admired retail chain in the region to bring entertainment into the shopping experience. To mark the occasion, the platform arranged for a fan meet and greet with Aditi Rao Hydari, who played Anarkali in the blockbuster web series, Taj: Divided by Blood, as part of LuLu’s annual ‘Celebrations of India’ campaign. The brand also revealed its participation in Lulu’s new brand loyalty program and announced special offers for customers on the occasion.
ZEE5 Global’s latest collaboration with LuLu Hypermarket not only goes to new markets like Qatar but also takes it to the next level with ZEE5’s participation in Lulu’s loyalty program “Happiness”. As part of the program, shoppers at LuLu Hypermarkets across UAE and Qatar will get a free one-month subscription and exclusive offers on yearly subscriptions for every purchase. Further, Loyalty members across GCC will get special discounts on ZEE5 Global 4K monthly and annual packs.
Aditi Rao Hydari’s association with the platform at an exclusive meet and greet in the middle east added an extra layer of excitement for shoppers, allowing fans to personally interact and engage with their star. This follows her outstanding performance as Anarkali in the blockbuster ZEE5 Original period drama “Taj: Divided By Blood.”
ZEE5 Global chief business officer Archana Anand said, “We are thrilled to complete 5 years of our very special partnership with LuLu to delight consumers by adding entertainment into the shopping experience. The Middle East is one of our highest priority markets and one where we have shot to leadership as a South Asian OTT platform. We look forward to continuing to bring our audiences unforgettable experiences with their favourite stars and the best of Bollywood blockbusters and South Asian stories.”
Aditi Rao Hydari said, “It’s been such a wonderful experience connecting and interacting with my fans in Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai! The global response to my show Taj: Divided by Blood has left me completely overwhelmed and I would like to thank ZEE5 Global for making this happen. My heartfelt congratulations to ZEE5 Global and LuLu for their remarkable 5-year partnership and for this wonderful event!”
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.
