- By Mariko Oi
- Business reporter
7 hours ago
Image source: Getty Images
Vice Media plans to cut hundreds of jobs as it stops publishing on Vice.com, according to a memo from CEO Bruce Dixon.
In May, the company filed for bankruptcy in the United States and was purchased by Fortress Investment Group.
Mr. Dixon said Vice plans to “work with established media companies to distribute our digital content.”
Mr Dixon said in the memo obtained by the BBC: “It is no longer cost effective for us to distribute our digital content in the way we have done so far.”
“Unfortunately, this means we will be reducing our workforce and eliminating several hundred jobs,” he said.
The company is continuing to sell the business, according to Dixon, who said the announcement will be made in the coming weeks.
Vice Media was founded in 1994 by Shane Smith, Gavin McInnes and Suroosh Alvi as a fringe magazine called Voice of Montreal and operates in more than 30 countries.
The company was valued at $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in 2017 and was once seen as part of the vanguard of companies that were disrupting the traditional media landscape with edgy, youth-focused content across print, events, music , online, TV and feature films wanted to revolutionize films.
The hope was that Vice would attract millions of younger people through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
The company's production included “My Journey Inside the Islamic State,” in which a vice journalist filmed alongside the terrorist group in Syria. Vice also accompanied basketball star Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters team on a “sports diplomacy” trip to North Korea.
More recent content included documentaries about controversial influencer Andrew Tate and a film by actor Sean Penn about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
However, the company's sales have been stagnant for several years and it has also struggled to turn a profit. Vice's plans to go public through a merger also failed.