Vice Media Group preparing to file for bankruptcy, as no buyer emerges

Gangs Of London

US-Canadian youth-skewing digital firm Vice Media Group is preparing to file for bankruptcy, it has been reported.

The news comes just days after the company unveiled a raft of “painful but necessary” cuts to staff and programming, with flagship show Vice News Tonight being axed and around 100 team members to be let go.

Vice Media Group is home to UK-based Gangs Of London producer Pulse Films, as well as the Vice TV network, the Vice Studios film & TV unit, a distribution arm, Refinery29, agency Carrot Creative and fashion title i-D.

Context & decline

The firm has been looking for a buyer for more than a year as advertising shifts and declining audiences hit its profitability.

LR: Bruce Dixon & Hozefa Lokhandwala

The New York Times has now reported that with no buyer in place, Vice may be forced to file for bankruptcy, according to insiders familiar with company operations.

Around five companies have been reported to be interested in acquiring Vice, but the likelihood of a takeover prior to bankruptcy proceedings appears to be growing slim, and a filing could be coming in the next few weeks.

In the event of bankruptcy, control of Vice Media may pass to Fortress Investment Group, the company’s largest debtholder, according to the report. Other backers include WPP, the Raine Group and Disney, the latter of which confirmed it had written off much of its investment in the company in 2019.

Background & exec exits

Vice Media Group started life as the alternative-punk Vice magazine in the 1990s and grew into a major media brand over the decades, valued at $5.7bn in 2017.

However, it is now believed to be worth only a small fraction of that figure – the company was reportedly pitching itself to potential buyers at $1.5bn.

The turbulence has already seen a number of senior exec exits, with Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala appointed co-CEO’s at Vice after Nancy Dubuc stepped down in February. Her arrival in 2018 followed a flurry of allegations against Vice founder Shane Smith.

Dubuc’s departure was preceded by the exit of Kate Ward, who had been president of Vice’s global studios operation since 2019 and led Pulse Films since its founders’ left last year. Ward joined BBC Studios (BBCS) Productions as MD of its factual operations in September.

The firm has also been shifting its operations internationally, closing linear networks and its operations in France, as well as pushing into FAST news channels, as revealed by TBI.

A Vice Media spokesperson told the New York Times that the company “has been engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of strategic alternatives and planning” and that “the company, its board and stakeholders continue to be focused on finding the best path for the company.”

Vice told TBI that it had no further comment.