Google to make first big job cuts

Google has announced its first sizeable cuts, with the axing of 300 jobs at its online advertising unit DoubleClick.

The lay-offs make up about a quarter of DoubleClick's 1,200-strong workforce in the US. Worldwide, DoubleClick has about 1,500 employees.

Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has suggested that overseas operations, employing a further 300 people, will also be affected at a later date.

It is a first for Google and perhaps not one they want to trumpet too much.

In a statement, Google said: "Since our acquisition of DoubleClick closed on March 11, we have been working to match and align DoubleClick employees in the US with our organisational plan for the business.

"As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in head-count at the acquired company."

Saif-Kareena to wed?

The latest bit of rumour that we heard on April Fool's Day is that Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan plan to wed after their film, Tashan, releases on April 25. And no, this is not a joke, insist all.

Kareena is quoted as having told Zee News that she will get married 'very soon,' adding, 'So maybe, post the release of Tashan this month, you all can see us wedded.'

The actress also told Zee News that there was nothing wrong with getting married at the peak of her career, especially after the success of Jab We Met .

'I didn't say I'd stop working after marriage,' she is quoted to have told Zee News. "Today, I've already reached the Rs 3.5 crore package, and I hope to work and earn more in the coming years.'

So will we hear wedding bells soon? Let's wait and watch.

SRK Smarter than a 5th Grader?

The smoke was not emanating from his trademark cigarette but from Shah Rukh Khan’s ears yesterday. A furious SRK stalked out of the sets of Star’s ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai?’ a television gameshow featuring him. Apparently a 10-year-old student sprang up and fielded a question which left the actor flummoxed.

In the show, based on the international ‘Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader’ in which grade-school level questions are put to adults. Contestants are presented with the chance to win up to Rs 5 crore by answering questions taken from the syllabus of the fifth grade level or lower. Children are part of the show and are the contestant’s ‘classmates’. The show is to air on Star Plus soon.

SRK was filming at the Haji Ali studio Letsroll yesterday. All seemed well five minutes into the shoot with the parents of the kids watching intently in the audience, adult contestants and the children all eating out of SRK’s hands already.

Then, a student got up and asked SRK rather insolently if he knew to which cricket writer one could attribute the quotation: ‘What do they know of cricket who only cricket know.’ SRK was taken aback. He said hesitantly, “Neville Cardus.” He was hooted down and some students who shouted, “No. It is CLR
James.” A voice shouted from the back: “People who do not know their cricket should not own teams.”
This referred obviously to SRK’s acquisition of the Kolkata team for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

As SRK protested that he did know his cricket, other bouncers were hurled at him: “When did Graham Gooch lead a rebel tour to South Africa?” and “Which cricketer was forced to flee Zimbabwe fearing Robert Mugabe’s wrath?” SRK did not know the answers to both which were incidentally 1982 and Henry Olonga. More booing followed, with somebody shouting, “Go and dance at weddings.”


The superstar stormed out and has left the programme in the lurch refusing to return today for shooting. The buzz is that SRK has left the show for good. The actor refused to comment on the issue yesterday.

Meanwhile, the student who was later identified as Amit Buch from Eklavya High School, Cuffe Parade, told MiD DAY that he was a big fan of SRK and thought he could earn some brownie points by asking questions. “I have seen all of SRK movies and one day want to enter movies. I thought this is a way to impress him. I had studied up stuff for the shooting. I hope he is not too angry with me.”

Buch’s parents said that King Khan had behaved rather immaturely in front of the children and should learn to take jokes better.