Vice Media is reportedly nearing a deal with the Soros Fund Management, an investment firm founded by billionaire George Soros, and Fortress Investment Group to bail the media company out of bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
To avoid filing for Chapter 11, Vice would need to sell to the investment groups or obtain another offer. The company was once valued at nearly $6 billion in 2017 but is currently only $400 million.
Within the last few weeks, the media company has announced that it is shutting down its “Vice News Tonight” program and its global reporting unit, Vice World News.
Vice Media Group also operates the film and television production unit Vice Studios, the television network Vice TV, the creative agency Virtue, and Vice News. Additionally, the media group owns the website Refinery29, i-D magazine, Pulse Films, and a bar in London.
After five years as the Vice’s CEO, Nancy Dubuc left the company in February. She was replaced by co-chief executives Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala.
In a memo to employees last month, Dixon and Lokhandwala stated, “In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing [Vice Media Group] and the broader news and media industry, we are moving forward on some painful but necessary reductions, primarily across our News business.”
“We are transforming Vice News to better withstand market realities and more closely align with how and where we see our audiences engaging with our content most,” they added.
After struggling for nearly a year to find a buyer, control of the company will likely go to Fortress Investment Group, Vice’s biggest senior lender. The sale would wipe out Vice’s other shareholders, including private-equity firm TPG Group, Sixth Street Partners, and James Murdoch.
According to the WSJ, Fortress plans to keep Vice’s current management, including finding a role for the company’s co-founder, Shane Smith, who is currently Vice’s executive chairman. However, it is currently unclear what role Smith would take if investors move forward with the deal to buy out the company.
Smith was Vice’s CEO before Dubuc, but he stepped away from the position and the public eye following reports of sexual harassment within the company and allegations that Smith built the media outlet on lies, according to a 2018 report from New York Magazine.
Vice Media, Soros Fund Management, and Fortress did not respond to requests for comment, the New York Post reported.
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