New leaked emails from the Sony hack have revealed why Chief Communications Officer Charles Sipkins left the company after only 15 months at his post.
Sipkins was fired after studio boss Amy Pascal was dissatisfied that she was excluded from a roundtable interview with the heads of other studio executives, according to new emails obtained by Bloomberg.
“I would fire your P.R. guy immediately,” Pascal’s husband Bernie Weinraub wrote to Pascal in a Nov. 15 email. “Or at least tell him you’re not going to deal with him anymore.”
Pascal forwarded the email to Sony’s head of Human Resources George Rose, who replied, “He’s right.”
Sipkins’ ousting was announced six days later, as TheWrap reported on Nov. 21. Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton announced Sipkins’ exit in an internal memo to staff. However, the reason given at the time was that Sipkins was resigning in order to pursue other opportunities.
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“Charlie Sipkins has resigned to pursue other opportunities. We thank him for his contributions and wish him success in the future,” the memo read.
Sipkins, who joined the company in August 2013, reported directly to Lynton and Pascal, and oversaw all aspects of the company’s corporate communications with the existing team at SPE.
Prior to joining SPE, Sipkins was a managing director in the Los Angeles office of Sard Verbinnen, where he headed communications for Yahoo! during its highly tumultuous period of turnover between chief executives Scott Thompson, Carol Bartz and new CEO Marissa Mayer.
