The News Media Guild, the union that represents AP journalists, said more than 120 staff members received buyout offers on Monday.

The news organization is becoming more focused on visual journalism and developing new revenue sources, particularly through companies investing in artificial intelligence, to cope with the economic collapse of many legacy news outlets. Once the lion’s share of AP’s revenue, big newspaper companies now account for 10% of its income.

“We’re not a newspaper company and we haven’t been for quite some time,” Julie Pace, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP, said in an interview.

Despite changes – the company has doubled the number of video journalists it employs in the United States since 2022 – remnants of a staffing structure built largely to provide stories to newspapers and broadcasters in individual states have remained.

That has its roots well back in American history; the AP was started in the mid-19th century by New York newspapers looking to share the costs of reporting outside their immediate territory.

Exact numbers of staff reduction unclear

The number of AP journalists who will lose jobs is murky, in part intentionally. The AP does not say how many journalists it employs, though it has a large international presence as well as its U.S. staff. Pace said the AP’s goal is to reduce its global staff by less than 5%.

Since buyouts are being offered now to only U.S. journalists, it stands to reason that the cut among that workforce will be more than 5%. Whether there are layoffs depends on how many people take the offer, Pace said.

“The AP employs hundreds of talented journalists who are willing and able to adjust to the changing media landscape,” the union said in a statement. “However, the company refuses to offer them appropriate training and tools. Instead, AP continues to get rid of experienced staff and flirt with artificial intelligence — ignoring the opportunity to differentiate AP news stories as ones that are and always will be created by human journalists.”

The union said AP ignored a request last week to bargain over artificial intelligence. The news outlet had no immediate comment on that claim, or the union’s estimate of how many people were offered buyouts. It’s not clear whether the buyout offers were concluded by Monday afternoon.

Over the past four years, the AP’s revenue from newspapers has declined by 25%. Gannett and McClatchy, two of the largest traditional newspaper publishers, dropped AP in 2024.

In recent days, the company learned that Lee Enterprises — publishers of newspapers like The Buffalo News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Richmond Times-Dispatch — is seeking an early exit from a contract due to expire at the end of 2026.

Pace said the buyout plan was in the works before learning about Lee Enterprises. “We made a decision earlier this year that we needed to be bolder in this transformation,” she said.

An even higher focus on the day’s biggest stories

Besides the transition to more video capabilities, the AP is deploying rapid-response teams where staff members, no matter their geographic base, contribute to the day’s big stories, she said. The AP is putting more journalists on beats to break news on topics of known customer interest. But it is committed to maintaining a presence in all 50 states.

“The AP is not in trouble,” Pace said. “We’re making these changes from a position of strength but we’re doing so now to recognize our changing customer base.”

Those customers now are dominated by broadcast, digital and technology companies, an illustration of where people are getting news. The AP has seen 200% growth in revenue from technology companies over the last four years, said Kristin Heitmann, senior vice president and chief revenue officer.

The AP was among the first news outlets to make a deal with an AI company, agreeing in 2023 to lease part of its text archive to OpenAI as it built out its capabilities. The AP launched on Snowflake Marketplace last year to license data directly to enterprises building their own system. It has launched AP Intelligence, a division designed to sell data to financial and advertising sectors, for example.

Google contracted with AP last year to deliver news through the Gemini chatbot, the tech giant’s first deal with a news publisher.

“If you can think of a large technology company,” Heitmann said, “they are a customer of ours.”

Predictions markets now part of the picture for AP

Last month, the AP agreed to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi, the world’s largest predictions market.

AP’s long tradition in counting and analyzing elections data is another growth area; the company saw a 30% increase in customers between the 2020 and 2024 cycles. It got an additional boost last year when ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN signed on to the service.

The company, traditionally a wholesaler of news to other companies, has also seen growing interest in its direct-to-consumer product, apnews.com, which provides revenue through advertising and donations.

The new business frontiers do not indicate a weakening in the AP’s standards of providing fast, accurate, non-biased news, leaders said. “It anything, it makes it more important that we retain these values as we make the transition,” Pace said.

The AP is trying new forms of fact-checking, including use of video, and more often putting its journalists in public to explain how they got particular stories, she said.

“I think that authenticity, and the fact that you can associate a real person who is often quite experienced and quite deep on their beats … it builds more credibility,” she said. “We’re really trying to embrace that because I do think it’s vital when there is so much misinformation out there.”

As we reflect on the year 2025, it becomes evident that India’s retail investing landscape has undergone a profound and lasting transformation. This is not merely a cyclical trend but a deep-rooted cultural shift towards financial independence and wealth creation.

By the end of October 2025, India proudly crossed the milestone of nearly 21 crore demat accounts, a remarkable surge from approximately 2.5 crore accounts in 2016 and 4 crore in 2020. This exponential growth underscores a seismic change in how Indians perceive and engage with the capital markets.

Equally impressive is the growth in systematic investment plans (SIPs). Monthly SIP contributions have consistently set new records, crossing Rs. 29,500 crore in October 2025. For the financial year 2024-25 (April–February), total SIP inflows exceeded Rs. 2.63 lakh crore. The assets under management (AUM) of India’s mutual fund industry have more than doubled over the past five years, reaching an all-time high of Rs. 80 lakh crore. The number of mutual fund folios has surged past 25 crore, with active SIP accounts surpassing 9.45 crore as of October 2025.

Key Drivers of 2025: A Year of Strategic Shifts

1) From Foreign Dependence to Domestic Resilience

Despite significant foreign outflows in early 2025, Indian retail investors demonstrated unwavering confidence in domestic equities, underpinning the resilience of the markets. Foreign ownership in listed companies declined from 22% to 17%, while domestic institutional ownership increased from 13% to 20%. This shift signifies India’s move towards a more self-reliant, domestically driven financial ecosystem.2) Technology-Enabled Democratization

The advent of intuitive, user-friendly platforms by traditional brokers, discount brokers, mutual fund providers, and banks has democratized investing. Mobile-first solutions, simplified KYC processes via Aadhaar, and rapid account opening have empowered millions—particularly the youth—to participate in the markets with unprecedented ease.

3) Geographic Expansion Beyond Tier 1 Cities

Retail investor participation also expanded well beyond metropolitan centres into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. NSDL’s reach now covers over 99% of Indian pin codes, ensuring that capital markets are truly accessible across the country’s vast geography.

However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows:

1) The Derivatives Dilemma

While retail enthusiasm soared, it also exposed vulnerabilities. Data indicates that between FY22 and FY25, retail investors collectively incurred losses of nearly Rs. 3 lakh crore. SEBI studies reveal that around 91% of retail derivatives traders remain loss-making, underscoring the need for greater investor education and risk awareness.

2) Global Uncertainties and Market Volatility

The year was marked by geopolitical tensions, President Trump’s tariff threats on BRIC nations, and escalating conflicts involving Ukraine and Russia, leading to heightened global market volatility. Elevated crude oil prices, currency depreciation, and sectoral weaknesses in autos and FMCG further tested investor resilience.

3) The Road Ahead: Building a Mature Market Ecosystem

Despite these headwinds, India’s markets demonstrated remarkable resilience. Domestic institutional investors, including mutual funds, LICs, and insurers, continued to deploy capital, offsetting foreign selloffs and reinforcing the maturity of the market structure.

Regulatory reforms introduced by SEBI, including delta-based open interest calculations, tighter market-wide position limits, and real-time surveillance, have further fortified the ecosystem, ensuring a safer environment for retail participation.

Moreover, industry stakeholders—including regulators, exchanges, stockbrokers, mutual fund houses, and insurance companies—have intensified efforts to promote financial literacy, focusing on youth and underserved segments.

2025 will be remembered as a pivotal year in India’s retail investing journey, not because everything was perfect, but because the market faced its first significant stress test and responded through structural reforms. It is a year that exemplifies confidence, conviction, and the resilience of a new generation of investors who are not just trading, but owning their financial future.

In my opinion, this remarkable shift signals India’s ongoing move towards what I call the “Equitization of Savings”—a transformation where savings are increasingly directed into equities and capital markets, fostering a more inclusive and growth-oriented financial ecosystem. I believe this trend will continue for a long time to come.

(Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities)

India’s alternatives investment ecosystem has entered a new phase of scale, with Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) together crossing Rs 23.43 lakh crore in assets as of September 2025. New data compiled by PMS Bazaar shows the sector has expanded at a remarkable 31.24% CAGR over the past decade, driven by rising institutional participation and a distinct shift among affluent investors toward high-conviction, strategy-led portfolios.

According to the report, the PMS segment has undergone a sevenfold expansion over the last ten years. PMS Assets Under Management, including discretionary and non-discretionary mandates but excluding co-investments and advisory assets, have climbed from Rs 1.27 lakh crore in September 2015 to Rs 8.37 lakh crore in September 2025, marking a 10-year CAGR of 20.75%. The growth also coincides with the rise in licensed managers, with 495 SEBI-registered portfolio managers now active.

The momentum in AIFs has been even more dramatic. Total AIF commitments have surged from Rs 27,484 crore in September 2015 to Rs 15.05 lakh crore in September 2025, translating into a striking 49.23% CAGR. Category II AIFs account for roughly three-fourths of total commitments and have led the charge, soaring from Rs 14,707 crore to Rs 11,20,589 crore during the same period — a 54.24% CAGR. India now hosts 1,699 registered AIFs across all categories as of November 17, 2025, underscoring the diversification of domestic alternatives.

Commenting on the structural shift, R. Pallavarajan, Founder & Director, PMS Bazaar, said affluent investors are increasingly seeking “diversification and reliable sources of alpha,” adding that PMS and AIF platforms provide “conviction-led, strategy-driven portfolios built for today’s complex market environment.”

George Heber Joseph, CIO & CEO (Equity) at ASK Investment Managers, noted that rising demand is coming not only from HNIs and UHNIs but also from new-age investors, startup founders, senior professionals, and clients from Tier II and Tier III cities. He said PMS and AIFs are “no longer niche” and are emerging as the next frontier of professional wealth management.

The figures were released at the PMS Bazaar summit held in Mumbai, where the platform also unveiled AIF Bazaar, a dedicated initiative aimed at improving transparency and accessibility across the AIF landscape.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)