A virtual town hall meeting to discuss lay-offs at Vice Media was abruptly cut short last week after executives complained about a flood of “thumbs-down” emojis overtaking the screen.
Chief content officer Cory Haik was giving an update to the corporate about recently announced job cuts on Wednesday when indignant emoji reactions began to pour in.
“It’s a really, very, very difficult time within the macro landscape, I believe you all know that, I’ve talked about that lots,” she began to explain.
“The Vice publishing business is now going to operate as a smaller, break-even business. It is not any longer unprofitable, however it is a much smaller offering.”
But Vice Media chief executive Bruce Dixon interrupted Haik’s comments to ditch the meeting altogether.
“It’s inconceivable to ignore the emojis from our side,” he said.
![Vice Media CCO Cory Haik](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/vice-media-cco-cory-haik-77779547.jpg)
“And I believe we’re going to organize this in a way where we are able to actually give the data to individuals who want to receive it in the way in which it’s meant. Thanks to your time and your presence in terms of trying to explain that. I believe let’s progress with our own town halls on this. Thanks for all of the questions we’ve got received, we’ll do our greatest to answer those in a forum that is sensible for this company.”
Video of the meeting was posted to TikTok by user bobbymang666 and shared online by current and former Vice staffers, The Day by day Beast reported.
“Cory Haik’s salary was roughly $726,068 last yr. What a joke,” one user commented.
“They will’t handle emojis?” one other asked.
Users described the collapse of Vice as “wild,” suggesting “Vice should do a bit on the autumn of Vice”.
“It’s unlucky that employees remaining with the organization who greatly want to contribute to its success were sabotaged by just a few bad actors,” a Vice Media spokesperson said in an announcement to CNN.
“We understand that emotions are running high after such a major change to the corporate and can proceed to communicate. Our strategic vision moving forward is the correct one for Vice.”
Vice Media announced last month that it planned to sack several hundred employees and not publish material on its flagship Vice.com website, all but marking the top of a years-long decline for the edgy “punk rock” news giant once valued at an incredible $US5.7 billion.
![Vice Media company sign and For Lease sign on a building wall in Los Angeles, with a parking lot visible.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/company-sign-for-lease-sign-77780082.jpg?w=1024)
The corporate filed for bankruptcy last May before being sold for $350 million to a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group.
The Latest York Times reported the corporate was left with around 900 people on staff.
In his memo announcing the newest job cuts, Mr Dixon didn’t give a selected number apart from saying tons of of people could be affected.
He said it was not cost-effective for Vice to distribute its digital content the way in which it had been and it might put more emphasis on its social channels, while shifting to a studio model.
“I do know that saying goodbye to our valued colleagues is difficult and feels overwhelming, but that is the very best path forward for Vice as we position the corporate for long-term creative and financial success,” Mr Dixon said.
Other digital news sites including BuzzFeed News, Jezebel and Messenger have shut down over the past yr, while traditional media outlets have also been forced to cut staff within the face of economic headwinds.