Vice cuts jobs & restructures following Vice News show cancellations

LR: Bruce Dixon & Hozefa Lokhandwala (Srouce: Vice)

Vice Media Group is restructuring following the cancellation of its Vice On Showtime and Vice News Tonight shows, with a new streamlined operating structure and further job losses.

The company, which was acquired in August by former lenders including Fortress Investment Group, made cuts earlier this year but is now expected to trim a further 100 staff after “a number of Vice News shows” were not renewed.

In a note to staff, Vice CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said that the company would be “winding down those productions and sadly this will have an impact on certain roles.”

The duo added that Vice News “is not going away” with production on digital news and documentaries, such as Superpower for Paramount+, continuing.

Dixon and Lokhandwala, who were appointed co-CEO’s at Vice after Nancy Dubuc stepped down in February, also unveiled a new two-pronged set-up rather than the five divisions it had previously operated.

The Studios, Television and Distribution unit will house Vice Studios Group (Vice Studios, Pulse Films), Vice News Films, Vice TV and its distribution arm.

A Publishing, News and Creative Services unit will now be the umbrella for publishing teams across entertainment and news, as well as its ad agency Virtue and its commercial group.

Vice’s ‘unique opportunities’

The reorganisation comes six months since Vice’s $350m sale first emerged, following the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Prior to that, Vice had been on a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for a buyer that led to the company unveiling a raft of “painful but necessary” cuts to staff and programming,

Dixon and Lokhandwala added that the new-look structure “will help us work more effectively towards our shared creative and business goals, better align our people and resources, and allow us to capitalise on the unique opportunities that lie ahead.”

The combined business units, they added, would “provide a more cohesive, collaborative and focused structure that will enable us to better amplify our content across multiple products and distribution opportunities,” while also reducing corporate costs.

The duo said that further cuts may be required, including “country or market closures”, and added that the company was operating through a “difficult period for media at large, as evidenced by all the restructurings and changes across the sector.”