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As Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, went through a phase of downsizing globally, many Indian employees found themselves facing job cuts. Members of the senior leadership teams here in India, such as Avinash Pant, director of marketing for India, and Saket Jha Saurabh, director of media partnerships, were among those affected.

Alongside layoffs, the internet giants have also been seeing a series of resignations from the leadership team. Manish Chopra, who served as the director and head of Meta's partnership initiatives in India, announced his departure earlier this month after spending four and a half years at the company. This adds to the succession of notable exits from Meta India, following the exits of Ajit Mohan, the former India head, and Rajiv Aggarwal, the public policy head, both of whom left the organization towards the end of the previous year.

A significant number of employees across functions in the company have been given the pink slip.

Numerous employees of the company took to their social network pages to share their layoff story as #metalayoffs trended across platforms.

A lot of them said they were sent on a ‘forced break’.

Kate Hayes, head of policy communications - contentiIntegrity and responsible innovation, Asia Pacific at Meta said in her LinkedIn post, “After 3 incredible years, unfortunately I was impacted by the #metalayoffs. This is the first time I've been without a job since I was 15 years old, and whilst it's a discombobulating feeling, I'm going to take this forced break as a gift.”

The recent Meta layoffs was not the first one though. Previously, the company had already implemented a round of layoffs, which affected thousands of employees. The decision to downsize again as per the company is in line with Meta's ongoing efforts to adapt to changing market conditions and streamline its operations.

In an excerpt from a blogpost earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg had said, “Over the next couple of months, org leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our orgs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates. With less hiring, I’ve made the difficult decision to further reduce the size of our recruiting team. We will let recruiting team members know tomorrow whether they’re impacted. We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May. In a small number of cases, it may take through the end of the year to complete these changes. Our timelines for international teams will also look different, and local leaders will follow up with more details. Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired.”

The blogpost also said that after restructuring, the company plans to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group.


Meta layoffs hit India, affecting senior leadership and other employees

Baseline Ventures India has launched its CSR arm, Baseline Foundation, as a part of its commitment to “giving back to society through CSR initiatives in sports.”

By establishing an organised grass-root level program, Baseline Foundation will be collaborating with training centres and academies to facilitate physical and theoretical training in sports to sports talents.

As a part of this initiative, Baseline Foundation will be supporting Riya Sachdeva, the tennis prodigy in her advanced tennis training. Sachdeva is the winner of U16 Asian grade 1 Tennis tournament 2023, and is currently ranked no 1. in Asia. 

Vipin Nair, co-founder and joint managing director, Baseline Ventures said, “Through Baseline Foundation, we are gratified to be making a difference in the lives of young athletes who once given the right platform and support, can go on to achieve great success in the field of sports.”

Baseline Ventures sets up CSR arm to support young athletes

Akshay Kumar has joined a long list of A-List celebrities to launch their own brand and take up the entrepreneurial journey. On 26 January this year, the Bollywood superstar announced the launch of his apparel label, Force IX, and a select athleisure line was made available on the e-commerce platform Myntra. Now Force IX opened its first exclusive store in Mumbai. Kumar said the plan is to open nine exclusive stores by the end of 2023. “Next one is going to be in Bengaluru, then Delhi and Surat,” Kumar told Storyboard18.

This is not the first time that Kumar has dabbled in the apparel business. He wanted to set it up seven years ago. But was not pleased with what he saw. Kumar recounts, “I actually was going to do this seven years ago, but when I saw the product I was not very happy. Then I met a man called Manish Mandhana. What I liked about him is he is hard working and knows his job. He showed me how the whole thing is going to be." 

Mandhana is the joint managing director of Mandhana Industries and also the co-founder of Force IX’s parent company, 9 AM Ventures Private Limited. The company has also partnered with Salman Khan for the Being Human apparel line.

Whilst speaking about the launch of the brand during turbulent times with macro-economic pressures, Mandhana says, “The best time to launch anything new is during the low times. When you start, you need a few seasons to get going in order to get your team right and product right.”

Athleisure has picked up since the pandemic as hybrid working has pushed consumers to opt for comfort clothing. The company wants to start its expansion journey from urban centers and then take it to Tier 2-3 markets. “We have started with Myntra with limited categories and now the whole idea is to spread out wings across the country. We are going to tap all the top retailers, the large format stores across the country as well. Gradually and slowly, we will grow step by step and go to various states. The target is to start with metros first, when you are successful in metros the aspiration of the brand goes down into the country,” says Mandhana.

When asked about the presence of so many well entrenched players already riding the athleisure wave and how his brand will stand out, Kumar answers that everything in the store embodies his personality. “When people didn’t know what athleisure is, I have been wearing these kinds of clothes since then. So what you are seeing in the store is all me. Every product here is something I want and something I have. Each and every cloth has a meaning to it. Plus everything is about ‘Forces’-army, navy, air force. I wanted to do something with the forces. That is why we came up with the name Force IX and 9 is the number of a warrior.”

Also, the proceeds from each and every sale at Force IX will go towards ‘Bharat Ke Veer’, an organization that supports the families of India’s martyrs.

Akshay Kumar: I've been wearing athleisure when people didn't know what athleisure is

In 1995,  22-year old Sachin Tendulkar’s journey as an iconic brand maker began. His signature on a record breaking deal worth Rs 45 crore propelled his image even further. The deal with World Tel was arranged by Mark Mascarenhas. The five-year deal was instrumental in building the career of not only the Master Blaster but also for several other cricketers after him. 

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Tendulkar said, “Mark was someone who, when it came to my practice sessions, and my preparation, he did not interfere at all. He always said that he is not going to make Tendulkar cancel his practice session so that he could shoot it at work. “He never prioritized an advertisement over practice.’’

[caption id="attachment_7535" align="alignnone" width="600"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2023/04/Mark-twitter.jpg" alt="Mark Mascarenhas (Image via Twitter - @ForbesIndia)" width="600" height="400" class="size-full wp-image-7535" /> Mark Mascarenhas (Image via Twitter - @ForbesIndia)[/caption]

In 2002, Mascarenhas passed away in a car accident. Even after two decades, the cricket legend shared how Mascarenhas made sure that Tendulkar had to never worry about his finances while he was on field. 

Recalling his initial meeting with the man who did his best to ensure that Tendulkar would be financially secure even after his retirement, Tendulkar said, “I still remember we were in Sri Lanka that time when I met him. Ravi Shastri introduced me to Mark, and then Ravi, Mark and I sat together. That's where Mark made me that offer, said, why don't you just stay focused only on the game. And my company will manage the commercial side,” he said.

The historic deal prompted nay-sayers who claimed that Tendulkar’s priority was not cricket but money. Ironically, the deal increased Tendulkar’s focus on his passion – cricket.

Tendulkar has always maintained that with each milestone, negotiations were becoming complex and he being an amateur needed professional help. Mascarenhas came to Tendulkar’s rescue and with his business acumen guaranteed that Tendulkar would never be overburdened by marketing obligations and would always be able to inspire people on the field.   


 
 



Never prioritized an ad over practice: Sachin Tendulkar on the man who made him a brand

“Ram Ram Sir , mil lo is haftey” these were the last words I got on whatsapp from Sidharth this past Monday. I had no clue he meant this was the last we had to meet. Gone away too soon. 


I got to know Sidharth Rao a couple of years ago. He was a person full of ideas and, instinctively, his mind thought in terms of value creation. He was a genuine entrepreneur - willing to go “all in” and optimistic no matter what his cards. 


He also had a wonderful external orientation and meeting him for a couple of hours meant getting many examples of value creation across industries. He invited me to address his team, to his farm at Karjat and to meet in Mumbai - none of which could materialise due to our respective schedules. 


A bon vivant, he wasn’t one for the high society party circuit and never lost his connection with real India. 


He always wrote back on my weekly columns and urged me to finish the books I have WIP. 


He was an energetic and committed entrepreneur who would have done much in his second innings. RIP Sidharth.



<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sidharth-rao-dies-industry-mourns-the-loss-of-pioneer-and-og-startupper-7423.htm">Sidharth Rao dies; Industry mourns the loss of pioneer and OG startupper </a>



<strong>About Sidharth Rao</strong> 


Sidharth Rao, who co-founded one of India’s first and finest digital agencies Webchutney passed away on Friday evening. He is survived by his parents and wife. Colleagues and industry executives are taking to social media platforms to mourn the loss.


Rao founded digital agency Webchutney 23 years ago when taking a bet on the internet was being done by very few. Rao built the agency from the ground up and it was acquired by Dentsu in 2013. 


It created India's most-awarded campaign ever at Cannes Lions 2022. 


<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sidharth-rao-co-founder-of-webchutney-and-punt-partners-passes-away-7412.htm">Sidharth Rao, co-founder of Webchutney and Punt Partners, passes away </a>



Sidharth Rao wasn’t one for the high society party circuit and never lost his connection with real India: Shubhranshu Singh on Rao

The advertising, marketing and media community is in shock, for one of its stalwarts is no more. Sidharth Rao, founder of one of India’s first and finest digital agencies Webchutney passed away on Friday evening of a cardiac arrest. He took a bet 23 years ago, when the internet was still an untapped and wary space. Obviously, it paid off, Webchutney soon became one of India’s most successful agencies only to be acquired by Dentsu in 2013.

Dentsu Webchutney made history last year when it was solely responsible for helping Dentsu Creative Bengaluru win the Agency of the Year title at the Cannes Lions, arguably the most coveted award in global advertising. It also bagged the three biggest Grand Prix awards at the Cannes Lions festival.


<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sidharth-rao-co-founder-of-webchutney-and-punt-partners-passes-away-7412.htm">Sidharth Rao, co-founder of Webchutney and Punt Partners, passes away</a> 


Despite the fame, recognition and immense success, Rao stepped down from his role as CEO of the DentsuMB group last year to once more walk down the entrepreneurship route. Along with his partner Madhu Sudhan, Rao started Punt Partners, a firm that will build on the growing mar-tech space in India.

Being in the industry of well over two decades, Rao has crossed many milestones along his journey. He can truly be considered as one of the pillars of the strong foundation of the A&M community.

Thoughts and tributes have been pouring in from colleagues and friends of Rao’s.  



<strong>Rammohan, founder, NetworkPlay and PlatformPlay</strong>


Waking up this morning to the saddest news in recent times.

Sidharth Rao breathed his last, last evening and I don’t know what to even say, I am gutted!

He is the one who stood by me back in the day in 2008 when I launched NetworkPlay. This was his make…


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Waking up this morning to the saddest news in recent times.<br><br>Sidharth Rao breathed his last, last evening and I don’t know what to even say, I am gutted!<br><br>He is the one who stood by me back in the day in 2008 when I launched NetworkPlay. This was his make…<a href="https://t.co/dAnCYxXaUO">https://t.co/dAnCYxXaUO</a></p>&mdash; RockingRam (@Rammohantweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rammohantweets/status/1649610854411694082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<strong>Abbas Mirza, co-founder and creative head, Tales N Talkies Media</strong>


Having worked for Dentsu Webchutney, a top digital agency he founded and nurtured, it feels like a personal loss even though I never had a chance to meet him in person.

Rest in peace, Sidharth Rao??

The legacy you have created will keep guiding the world of creativity in the years to come.


<strong>Surya Ragunaathan, playback singer and writer</strong>


Sidharth has been a friend of mine since 2013. Just the day before yesterday, we spoke that we completed ten years of friendship. He always encouraged my singing career and said I should keep at it no matter what. He connected me to entrepreneurs to ghost write books for them, since I am a writer too. We’d meet at Toto’s and drink with Bhatia uncle sometimes, talk about new book ideas and 90s music. Going to miss him terribly.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sidharth has been a friend of mine since 2013. Just day before yesterday, we spoke that we completed ten years of friendship. He always encouraged my singing career and said I should keep at it no matter what. He connected me to entrepreneurs to ghost write books for them, since… <a href="https://t.co/shwAGSadIR">pic.twitter.com/shwAGSadIR</a></p>&mdash; Surya Ragunaathan (@sangvoel) <a href="https://twitter.com/sangvoel/status/1649630288782454784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<strong>Anant Goenka, executive director, The Indian Express</strong>


Shocked to hear the terrible news of Webchutney founder Siddharth Rao. Was a pioneer, full of exciting ideas coupled with the will to execute.  He played an invaluable part in the Indian marketing community's digital journey. Om Shaanti.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shocked to hear the terrible news of Webchutney founder Siddharth Rao. Was a pioneer, full of exciting ideas coupled with the will to execute. He played an invaluable part in the Indian marketing community&#39;s digital journey. Om Shaanti.</p>&mdash; Anant Goenka (@anantgoenka) <a href="https://twitter.com/anantgoenka/status/1649659163788873729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sidharth-rao-a-digital-maven-who-made-creative-entrepreneurship-cool-in-india-7434.htm">Sidharth Rao: A digital maven who made creative entrepreneurship cool in India</a>

 


<strong>Rajiv Dingra, founder and chief executive officer, RD&X Network</strong>


Will miss you @sidharthrao.. a dear friend who was humble, helpful and so much more to everyone who knew him.. RIP my friend.. I’ll see you on the other side someday and we will cheers to a great life that you have led and how you inspired everyone around you to be better!


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Will miss you <a href="https://twitter.com/sidharthrao?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sidharthrao</a> .. a dear friend who was humble, helpful and so much more to everyone who knew him.. RIP my friend.. I’ll see you on the other side someday and we will cheers to a great life that you have led and how you inspired everyone around you to be better!</p>&mdash; Rajiv Dingra (@rajivdingra) <a href="https://twitter.com/rajivdingra/status/1649707481428529152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sidharth-rao-wasnt-one-for-the-high-society-party-circuit-and-never-lost-his-connection-with-real-india-shubhranshu-singh-on-rao-7428.htm">Sidharth Rao wasn’t one for the high society party circuit and never lost his connection with real india: Shubhranshu Singh on Rao</a>


Sidharth Rao dies; Industry mourns the loss of pioneer and OG startupper

Sidharth Rao, who co-founded one of India’s first and finest digital agencies Webchutney passed away on Friday evening. 

He is survived by his parents and wife. Colleagues and industry executives are taking to social media platforms to mourn the loss. 

Rao founded digital agency Webchutney 23 years ago when taking a bet on the internet was being done by very few. Rao built the agency from the ground up and it was acquired by Dentsu in 2013. 

In 2022, ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, a campaign created by his team for media outlet VICE World News, won the biggest three Grand Prix awards at the Cannes Lions festival. Despite the scale and repute, Rao stepped down from his role as CEO of the dentsuMB Group last year to dabble with entrepreneurship once again. He had co-founded Punt Partners with Madhu Sudhan, which will build on the growing mar-tech space in India. 

In a conversation with Storyboard18 in January, Rao spoke about untapped potential of martech segment, hiring the right talent and his legacy.

When asked about his legacy he said it was the people who have worked with him and then ventured out on their own to achieve entrepreneurial ambitions. Rao said he's proud of his people who have done well for themselves. 

"Of course, PG (Aditya) and Gautam (Reghunath), who have gone ahead and started Talented and responsible for the spectacular run at Cannes in 2022. Talented, in less than a year, has made its mark with some great campaigns for clients. And there is a number of Webchutney alum I’m very proud of all around the world, a few of them have turned entrepreneurs themselves," he said. 

Over eight months ago, Rao shared this. 

“Today, I’m taking a punt. No, really.”

“Starting up after building Webchutney would give anyone performance pressure. Nervous to announce that starting up in services again (but not competing with Webchutney, you’re welcome). 

Excited to introduce Punt_Partners with my cofounder Madhu Sudhan, in mar-tech services. Madhu and I landed on this whitespace, a potentially $100 billion industry, after dozens of ideas and at least 3 MVPs. 

We pray for all your love and good wishes for the success of Punt. Because true to its name, it is one for me."

Over eight months ago, Rao shared this. 

“Today, I’m taking a punt. No, really.”

“Starting up after building Webchutney would give anyone performance pressure. Nervous to announce that starting up in services again (but not competing with Webchutney, you’re welcome). 

Excited to introduce Punt_Partners with my cofounder Madhu Sudhan, in mar-tech services. Madhu and I landed on this whitespace, a potentially $100 billion industry, after dozens of ideas and at least 3 MVPs. 

We pray for all your love and good wishes for the success of Punt. Because true to its name, it is one for me.“

Sidharth Rao, co-founder of Webchutney and Punt Partners, passes away

The founder of Infosys, Narayana Murthy has been consistently vocal and strongly opinionated about ChatGPT. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, he, yet again, reiterated that nothing can beat the human mind — not even AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT.

"I am a great believer in the theory that the human mind is the most powerful imagination, machine. There is nothing that can beat the human mind," he said. Murthy said he believes the theory that the human mind is the most powerful imagination, machine. "There is nothing that can beat the human mind,” he said.

“But let’s remember, both you and I have access to the same ChatGPT,” he pointed out.

This is not the first time that Murthy expressed his views on Artificial Intelligence (AI) or ChatGPT. In March, while speaking on the sidelines of NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum 2023, Murthy described ChatGPT as a good thing. He detailed his rendezvous with the chatbot and said, "I have used ChatGPT. My son introduced me to it a few months ago. It provides you with the knowledge and then you can use it further as per your creativity."

“If there is a competition between you and me, you will use the ChatGPT output as your base, and then you will add your own differentiation, your own smartness, your own tweaking,” continued Murthy. “And that’s when the teachers will be much more impressed with you than with me.”

In recent times ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, has created a lot of buzz in the tech sector. People fear that this technology is powerful enough to replace humans in the coming future, causing more job loss and making human skills irrelevant

“The lazy guys will get C. Only smart people will get A,” said Murthy. "Even in 1977-78, there were programme generators that had come in and so everybody feared for jobs but that didn't happen. Because the human mind is the most flexible instrument. So, it was then used to help bigger problems with human creativity and tech together. And so, ChatGPT is a good one but we must use it as a base and then use it to show our creativity and solve bigger problems but be it ChatGPT or AI, it will never replace humans," he concluded.

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