TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A former employee of Taiwan’s Next Apple News Network shared his story Tuesday (Jan. 10) of the sudden termination of his employment just before the Lunar New Year holiday.

Next Apple News Network let go of 50 employees on Tuesday without advanced notice. Taiwan News interviewed one of the laid-off employees, surnamed Chang (張), who received the bad news Tuesday afternoon.

Chang said Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua (潘杰賢) took over Apple Daily and changed its name to Next Apple News Network in September. The news agency has lost around NT$100 million (US$3,282,747) in four months since the takeover. 

Chang said that he went to work as usual on Tuesday morning and later his supervisor informed him to be mindful of an important email from the company. “I did not know it was going to be a layoff letter. I was so shocked when I received the notification.”

According to the letter, the company asked the employees to choose between leaving the company, being reassigned, or being laid off. It said the first 50 people who agreed to leave voluntarily would receive the highest severance pay.

The notice left the 26-year-old former journalist speechless. He said he went back to the office to sign the voluntary leave agreement in the afternoon, but at the time of publishing, he had not heard back from his employer, while most of his laid-off colleagues had received notifications.

“The company is in a mess now,” Chang said.