iWorld
ZEEL’s Punit Goenka says ZEE5 to see peak investment in FY 20
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZEEL) digital venture touched 76.4 million monthly active users (MAU) in the first quarter of FY20 making the media conglomerate more bullish on its new bet. While the over-the-top (OTT) platform is coming up with a number of original shows in different languages, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka said this year will see the highest investment in ZEE5.
“This year will be the peak investment in ZEE5. I am not guiding for any specific number for ZEE5,” Goenka said in an earnings call after Q1 results. He also noted that the company’s margins guidance is factoring in the losses on account of ZEE5, or any other investment that they may have. Content costs, which are already rising, will be impacted due to the ramp-up in ZEE5.
Goenka also re-emphasised his confidence in the company’s ability to monetise ZEE5. Though revenue is in accordance with its plans and targets, it isn’t enough to have a significant impact on the top-line.
The streaming service had a global daily active user (DAU) base of 6.6 million in June. It also witnessed a hike in user engagement as users spent an average of 33 minutes per day on the platform in contrast to 31 minutes per day in the last quarter.
“So, a part of the earlier quarter, the number I gave were only India numbers. Now that international has launched that also contributes to the MAUs. Yes, we did see an increase in India as well. But it got further strengthened with the international numbers,” Goenka commented on MAU growth.
Although there has been a sharp increase in ZEE5’s MAU in every quarter after its launch, Goenka said the company is not satisfied with the DAU-MAU ratio yet. While it ranges between 8 or 9 per cent, the industry standard is 25 per cent. He expects ZEE5 to touch this mark in six quarters’ time.
The current trend being OTT tying up with telcos, ZEE5 is yet to take a step in that direction. Out of the three large telcos, while it is yet to strike a deal with one, about 50 per cent partnership has been established with another. But, Goenka denied giving any particular completion timeframe for it.
On competitor Netflix’s newly-launched mobile-only plan, Goenka said, “It’s too early to comment as to how mobile-only will impact, because, in the end, that is just a pricing strategy that they have done. It does not really tell me too much about the content strategy. And therefore, as you will appreciate, for any OTT platform or content-driven business, the basic need is content. Until that does not change, life would not change significantly.”
A recent PTI report stated that ZEE5 is planning to test mobile-only packs too.
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.
