What became a guerilla journalism style platform, VBS.tv was a youth-focused channel that covered everything from travel down to drugs, festivals, parties, sex and food, even profiling thug debt collectors in the UK’s working class north. In 2006, under the direction of revered director Spike Jonze ( Being John Malkovich, Jackass and Her ), Vice Media expanded into video, launching VBS.tv. Vice was a runaway freight train and everyone wanted to jump on board. Vice Media’s momentum was showing no signs of slowing, attracting contributions from famed photographers, writers, creatives, film makers, including Ryan McGinley and the now infamous Terry Richardson (who has faced a wealth of sexual assault allegations since his tenure with Vice). Focusing on the burgeoning subculture of music that was defining French-speaking Canada, the skateboard/punk publication was instrumental in uncovering now cult bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as Arcade Fire.Īs the magazine grew in popularity, investors became interested, and in 1999 a local Canadian investor pooled $4 million USD into it, and the title expanded its offices to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where it still remains today. But now, Vice Media is preparing to file for bankruptcy.įounded in 1994, Vice Media was originally Voice of Montreal, a magazine put together by Shane Smith, Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes. From there, Vice (now known as Vice Media) grew into a global and cultural phenomenon, with reporters experimenting with ayahuasca and exploring the notorious hermit kingdom North Korea. Last week, BuzzFeed, which has a market value of $75m after a disastrous initial public offering last year, announced the closure of the remainder of its once highly lauded BuzzFeed News operation and that it was cutting 180 staff across the rest of the business.It started as a zine, covering music, art, trends and even drug culture throughout Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Vice was among a generation of fast-rising digital media upstarts such as BuzzFeed that once threatened to supplant legacy media companies with the recipe for attracting millennial audiences. Disney wrote off its $400m investment in Vice as worthless in 2019. The promise of successfully tapping the media habits of a global youth audience attracted hundreds of millions of dollars of investment from companies including Disney, which explored a $3bn-plus deal to buy Vice in 2015. Vice, which began as a punk magazine in Montreal almost three decades ago, expanded into digital media and TV striking deals with companies including Sky and HBO. “The company, its board and stakeholders continue to be focused on finding the best pathway for the company.” “Vice Media Group has been engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of strategic alternatives and planning,” the company said in a statement. If a sale cannot be agreed – suitors are said to be seeking a sub-$1bn deal – a bankruptcy process would result in Vice continuing to operate normally while an auction process is run. The same month, Nancy Dubuc, who took over as chief executive from controversial co-founder Shane Smith in 2018, announced her surprise departure. In February, Fortress Investment Group, the company’s debt holder, extended a $30m funding line to enable Vice to pay overdue bills to vendors. Last week, the company – which has been evaluating its future since plans to float using a special purpose acquisition vehicle (Spac) collapsed two years ago – announced it was cancelling its popular Vice News Tonight as part of a restructuring that could result in more than 100 staff being made redundant. Vice, which hit a valuation of $5.7bn in 2017 as media giants including Rupert Murdoch, WPP and Disney clamoured for a slice of its youth appeal, has been seeking a sale at a price tag of about $1.5bn.
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