![]() Vice was among a generation of fast-rising digital media upstarts such as BuzzFeed that once threatened to supplant legacy media companies with the right 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 firms, including Disney, which explored a $3bn-plus deal to buy Vice in 2015. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. Vice, which began as a punk magazine in Montreal almost three decades ago, expanded into digital media and TV by striking deals with firms including Sky and HBO. 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, the company’s debt holder, extended a $30m funding line to let Vice pay overdue bills to vendors. In April, 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 make 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, had been seeking a sale of about $1.5bn. ![]() “We will have new ownership, a simplified capital structure and the ability to operate without the legacy liabilities that have been burdening our business.” ![]() “This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the company and position Vice for long-term growth,” said Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, co-chief executive officers at Vice. The sale, which is expected to conclude in two to three months, comes after years of financial difficulties and executive turmoil at Vice. Under the deal, which also has a provision that Vice could still be sold to a third party if a higher bid emerges, the lenders are also providing more than $20m and other financing to fund Vice throughout the sale process. Vice said it “expects to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company” when the process concludes. Creditors can swap their secured debt, rather than pay cash, for the company’s assets. ![]()
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