Two weeks ago, Newsweek Media Group Chief Content Officer Dayan Candappa said the company had just five weeks to turn around its business, or it might have to shutter for good.

“I wish I could varnish this, it would be an easier conversation to have,” Candappa said in audio of the meeting obtained by The Daily Beast. “I think we can pull out of this, but we have to execute with the precision of a brain surgeon. Really, we have to do everything right.”

In the private conversation with top editors on Feb. 21, lasting nearly 90 minutes, the CCO acknowledged a litany of what he described as “significant” financial problems the company faced.