Today has been a turbulent day for employees of Sports Illustrated, with the magazine laying off about half of its staff, according to media reports.

Deadspin reported that the layoffs are related to a deal with TheMaven, a platform that reportedly plans to replace SI staffers with contract workers.

The magazine set up “transition meetings” for today, then canceled them, and then eventually began holding them toward the end of the workday, according to Deadspin. The meetings came after SI employees made a public plea to try to scuttle the deal with TheMaven, Deadspin adds.

“NPR’s David Folkenflik reported that management announced that half the staff was being laid off,” Deadspin reports. “TheMaven’s Ross Levinsohn and James Heckman were in the building to meet with the remaining staffers, but not to face those losing their jobs.”

Many employees took to social media to announce that they had been laid off. Here’s an example from the Twitter account of staff writer Joan Niesen …