All employers occasionally have to deliver bad news to their employees, but few bad news situations can compete with the delicate task of announcing layoffs. In the electronic age, where layoff notices delivered via email are quickly disseminated to outsiders, CEOs must take into consideration not only the employees who will be affected by the layoffs, but also journalists, bloggers, and stock analysts who will undoubtedly see the emails. . In an effort to please these multiple audiences, employers, like the three CEOs who wrote the memos that are the focus of this article, often downplay negative news or sandwich it among hopeful predictions about the future. While this strategy can mitigate the short-term effects of announcing bad news, it can also backfire, angering employees who feel deceived. A multi-pronged approach to studying these memos (and others like them) can reveal a multitude of rhetorics. features that will be useful to both academics and professionals. In this article, I discuss and apply close textual analysis (CTA) to three corporate firing memos, focusing specifically on the use of euphemism to mask bad news messages. Close Textual Analysis: A Brief OverviewClose textual analysis as a method of rhetorical criticism, advocated by scholars such as Michael Leff (1986, 1988) and Stephen E. Lucas (1988, 1990), asserts that a “close reading” of a text can “reveal and explicate the precise, often hidden, mechanisms that give a particular text…rhetorical effect” (Burgchardt, 2005, p. 563). Using this method can make explicit how a text can influence its audience in particular ways. Proponents of in-depth textual analysis suggest that its strength lies in its simplicity, which nevertheless leads to matter...... half of article ......hardt, CR (2005). Readings of rhetorical criticism. 3rd ed. State College, Pennsylvania: Strata. Jacinski, J. (2001). Rhetoric Sourcebook: Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Leff, M.C. (1986). Textual Criticism: The Legacy of GP Mohrmann. Journal of Speech Quarterly, 72, 377–389Leff, M. C. (1988). Dimensions of temporality in Lincoln's second inauguration. Communication Reports, 1, 26–31.Lucas, S. E. (1988). The rebirth of American public discourse: Text and context in rhetorical criticism. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 74, 241–260. Lucas, S. E. (1990). The stylistic art of the Declaration of Independence. Prologue: National Archives Quarterly, 22, 25–43. Slagell, A. R. (1991). Anatomy of a Masterpiece: An In-Depth Textual Analysis of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Communication studies, 42, 155–171.