iWorld
ZEE5 to take Bangladeshi entertainment content to global audiences
MUMBAI: At a grand joint press conference with Robi Axiata Limited held in Dhaka today, ZEE5, the largest global streaming platform for South Asians and beyond, announced its plans to take Bangladeshi entertainment content to global audiences.
Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global shared the platform’s vision of establishing a deep partnership with Bangladesh by working closely with local talent and local production houses and giving them a global platform. The announcement came at the formal launch of the service for Robi and Airtel subscribers in Bangladesh.
ZEE5 shared that it will be launching six projects in Bangla over the next one year. For these projects, it will work with some leading artistes from the local entertainment industry. Besides, it will also organize a talent hunt programme for fresh new faces who will get a chance to work in these shows. This talent hunt will be rolled out in association with Robi Axiata Limited. Details of the talent hunt programme will be shared in due course.
Commenting on the announcement, Amit Goenka, CEO, ZEE International and Z5 Global said “As we move forward with our global expansion and deepen our presence in key markets, establishing meaningful conversations in these markets will be key. We’re very pleased to be here in Bangladesh to formally announce our partnership with Robi-Airtel and share the various plans we have for this very important market.”
Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer-ZEE5 Global said, “Bangladesh is a hugely important market for us and we are thrilled by the tremendous response we have got already. We have a fabulous Bangla content bouquet especially curated for Bangladesh including Originals across genres, Movies, TV Shows and Live Streaming channels like ZEE Bangla. We’ve also got several initiatives in the pipeline to work with the local talent and production houses here for our shows and closely collaborate with them to showcase all this on our global platform.”
Commenting on the launch of ZEE5 for Robi and Airtel customers, Robi’s Managing Director and CEO, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said: “We are confident that ZEE5 is going to be an absolute delight for Robi and Airtel customers looking for quality entertainment content. The richness and variety of its content that includes wide ranging Bangla content will surely satisfy our customers’ entertainment appetite. With easy payment process, our customers can sit back and enjoy their favourite shows from ZEE from a variety of digital devices. With the launch of ZEE5 in
Bangladesh, we are also very proud to have created an opportunity for the local entertainment industry to collaborate with an international entertainment giant like, ZEE5, for taking our local content to the global audience.”
Also present at the occasion were Moinul Hasan Nobel, the Bangladeshi heartthrob singer from ZEE Bangla’s show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, and Ushasi Ray, the actress who plays the title role in the popular drama serial, Bokul Katha.. Among Bangladeshi celebrities, prominent actor, Chanchal Chowdhury, popular ramp model and actress, Airin Sultana and television presenter, model and actress, Masuma Rahman Nabila were also present at the launch programme.
They shared their excitement on the launch of ZEE5 in Bangladesh and the partnership with Robi and Airtel, and reflected on the immense potential this partnership is set to unleash for the local entertainment industry.
The event saw a special acoustic performance by Nobel. Commenting on this marquee moment for ZEE5, he said, “ZEE and ZEE5 have given many artistes like us a global platform, giving us international exposure and opportunities. With ZEE5 now in Bangladesh, the talent here will also have a great opportunity to showcase their work to audiences across the globe and build up their fan-base internationally.”
Robi’s Chief Commercial Officer, Pradeep Shrivastava and Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer, Shahed Alam were also present at the programme.
Robi and Airtel customers can choose between a daily or a weekly subscription pack to enjoy the content available on ZEE5. The daily pack is priced at 7 taka and the weekly pack is priced at 45 taka only. Through this partnership, customers will also be able to easily pay for a ZEE5 subscription from their mobile balance, if they are pre-paid customers, or have it included in their monthly bills, if they are post-paid customers of Robi and Airtel.
Robi and Airtel subscribers can access ZEE5 from five different devices at a time, allowing them complete freedom to watch the world class entertainment content on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, smart TVs, etc. They can use Robi’s countrywide 4.5G network or any WiFi network to avail the service.
As part of the ZEE5 subscription pack, Robi and Airtel customers will have access to over 1,00,000 hours of entertainment content across 17 languages, including a vast library of Bengali content across TV Shows, Movies. Originals across genres like crime, thrillers. drama, comedy etc. ZEE5’s rich library also includes more than 60 LIVE TV channels, including the much loved channel ZEE Bangla.
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.
