Vice Media files for bankruptcy, latest in a series of liberal media struggles

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Vice became the latest media giant to suffer a major setback after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday.

The filing came as the company prepares to sell essentially all of its assets to a Lender Consortium made up of Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital. Although the company previously reported $500 million to $1 billion in assets, the sale has so far yielded only $225 million in the form of a credit bid.

"VICE serves a huge global audience with a unique brand of news, entertainment and lifestyle content," VICE's Co-Chief Executive Officers Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said in a statement following the announcement. "This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the Company and position VICE for long-term growth, thereby safeguarding the kind of authentic journalism and content creation that makes VICE such a trusted brand for young people and such a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms."

The media has seen a cost-cutting bloodbath in recent months with several high-profile news organizations slashing headcount and announcing looming layoffs as economic uncertainty plaques the industry.  (Getty Images)

They continued, "We will have new ownership, a simplified capital structure and the ability to operate without the legacy liabilities that have been burdening our business. We look forward to completing the sale process in the next two to three months and charting a healthy and successful next chapter at VICE."

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The sale is expected to be completed within the next three months. According to the company, all brands including Vice, Vice News, Vice TV, Vice Studios, Pulse Films, Virtue, Refinery29 and i-D are expected to continue operating and producing content as usual. In addition, the company noted that its international entities as well as Vice TV’s joint venture with A&E were not part of the bankruptcy filing.

This announcement followed a series of media layoffs and shutdowns in liberal outlets over the past several months. Most recently, MTV News shut down on Wednesday after 36 years following Paramount Global reporting a net loss of $1.1 billion in the first quarter of 2023. 

The Daily Beast reported that Vice Media had a "toxic" work environment back in 2017. (PHOTO: JOSÉ BETANZOS/VICE WORLD NEWS)

In April, BuzzFeed similarly announced that it would shutter its news division and cut approximately 15% of its workforce. This included employees as well as executives such as CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Baesler.

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CNN and ABC News also announced layoffs including notable CNN anchor Brian Stelter and several high-ranking ABC News executives. ABC News’ layoffs also followed Disney, its parent company, which eliminated 7,000 jobs in March.

Disney layoffs hit ABC News on Thursday when roughly 50 staffers, including high-profile senior executives, were let go.  (ABC)

Vice Media was previously portrayed as a "toxic" workspace by the Daily Beast in a bombshell report released in 2017. According to the report, which allegedly featured "more than a dozen" current and former employees, the work environment involved inappropriate touching along with career opportunities being exchanged for sex with human resources ignoring complaints. Similar complaints were issued for Vice’s subsidiary site Refinery29 in 2020.

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Vice did not respond for a comment to Fox News Digital.