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Vice Media Group Prepares For Bankruptcy (nytimes.com) 44

Posted by BeauHD from the uncertain-times dept.
"Vice Media Group appears to be the latest digital media company in trouble," writes longtime Slashdot reader DesScorp. "The New York Times reports that the company is preparing for bankruptcy after being unable to find a buyer. Vice canceled Vice News Tonight only four days ago. The company, once valued at over $5.7 billion, has been bleeding cash, and major investors such as Disney will take a huge loss." From the report: In the event of a bankruptcy, Vice's largest debt holder, Fortress Investment Group, could end up controlling the company, said one of the people. Vice would continue operating normally and run an auction to sell the company over a 45-day period, with Fortress in pole position as the most likely acquirer. Unlike Vice's other investors, which have included Disney and Fox, Fortress holds senior debt, which means it gets paid out first in the event of a sale. Disney, which has already written down its investments, is not getting a return, the person said.

Vice began as a punk magazine in Montreal more than two decades ago. Over the years, it blossomed into a global media company with a movie studio, an ad agency, a glossy show on HBO and bureaus in far-flung world capitals. Disney, after investing hundreds of millions in Vice, explored buying the company in 2015 for more than $3 billion, according to the two people familiar with the conversations. "Vice Media Group has been engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of strategic alternatives and planning," Vice said in a statement on Monday. "The company, its board and stakeholders continue to be focused on finding the best path for the company."
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Vice Media Group Prepares For Bankruptcy More

Vice Media Group Prepares For Bankruptcy

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  • Clicks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Tuesday May 02, 2023 @07:27PM (#63492856) Homepage Journal

    It's well documented that they ditched journalism for clicks because it was momentarily more profitable.

    The trouble is all the good journalists left after their contracts so they could never go back and this is the result.

    Ex-Vice people founded some of the young and succeeding indymedia companies.

    • So you are saying the bean counters sold out the company's knowledge base, customer orientation and ethics for cost cutting and temporary profit? I guess this gives journalists a chance to learn what it's like to be in a tech company.

      • In this case, not the bean counters. The actual founder, Shane Smith. He saw dollar signs in his eyes like in the cartoons, and ditched journalism for wokeism. Wokeism was dollars ad infinitum. Until it wasn't.

    • Their best stuff seemed to me, always more entertainment than journalism. I'm thinking of One Star Reviews. Some of their long-form documentary stuff like Hamilton's Pharmacopeia was really good, and could probably be called journalism, but not in the "TV news" format.

      (Disclaimer: This is assessment is based strictly on their free online content.)

      Vice News Tonight seemed like a mixed bag. On occasion delivering stuff that mainstream media passed over, so in that respect, I mourn their passing. But wow, the

      • I enjoyed their show Bong Appetite where they invited chefs to cook with cannabis.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by znrt ( 2424692 )

        Hopefully ... the clicks/votes people squeeze out of them will start to hit diminishing returns.

        well, what a coincidence! the news is that they are hitting bankruptcy level of diminishing returns just now. i have only ever read random referred articles from them and they have been consistently bullshit so i'm not going to miss them at all.

        they are not alone, though, there are lots of content producers that can't possibly compete with chat-gpt. know what? that's actually good for journalism.

  • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Get Woke, Go Broke

      Sure thing bud! I can think a number of companies accused of being "woke". Google. Disney. Nike. I would like to know how I go as broke as they are.

      https://www.rollingstone.com/c... [rollingstone.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        While your point is valid, do remember that Google has a virtual monopoly. It's probably actually really hard for them to be so evil people would put in effort to stop using their products.

        A similar argument goes for Disney. With all the publishing clout they had and the acquisitions of IP like Star Wars and Marvel, they probably earn some money on two thirds of all of entertainment.

        The question a shareholder of Disney should ask himself is: How much more could we have made if the plot hadn't been hot garba

        • While your point is valid, do remember that Google has a virtual monopoly.

          Kind of supports my point: even after the accusations of wokery, they still dominate search. Sounds like "going woke" has done no harm at all.

          The question a shareholder of Disney should ask himself is: How much more could we have made if the plot hadn't been hot garbage?

          Nah, the only question is whether the ROI is worth it. Any large corporation is 95% terrible ideas and mind blowing inefficiency.

          But when Disney leaves dozens or hundr

          • Disney's currently so busy alienating people with either politics or prices that they don't realize their appeal comes down the road. People exposed as children to simplistic disney things--the parks, the shows, whatever--that lack any real controversy will then associate them in adulthood with a nicer, simpler time in their life: their childhood.
            Once people stop visiting ( due to costs, crowds, whatever), stop watching, or stop remembering it as a simple part of childhood: that will manifest itself years l

            • Disney's currently so busy alienating people with either politics or prices that they don't realize their appeal comes down the road

              Prices? Unless I'm very behind on he culture wars, gouging or even simply charging a high price isn't in any definition of "woke" that I've ever heard of.

              An example: my family went to disneyland when I was a child. My sisters were all onboard with "disney everything" as younger adults, but once they had children, the costs of the parks stopped them from visiting much. My nieces

    • Anheuser-Busch says they'll see you soon.

      You mean the company that makes both the beer the bigots have been drinking, and the more expensive beer the bigots switched to when that beer got a "woke" label? Yeah, they're crying all the way to your mom's house.

      • I never jumped on the beer ban bandwagon, but there were numerous posts all over the place listing all the InBev brands. If one wanted to boycott Bud Light and it's parent company, the information was fairly easily obtainable.

  • I'm sure it's just a strategic default.

  • They spent all their time making extremely biased stories that make you cringe so no one trusts them as a news source any longer. It wasn't like one or two slanted 'documentaries,' it was repeated stories with very obvious political agenda. No one wants to watch an activist media group despite places like CNN surviving off of their cable TV channel exclusivity for the older generation who still hasn't cancelled their cable TV subscription. Unlike CNN, Vice doesn't have anything that isn't replicable by any

  • It couldn't have happened soon enough, after the disgusting interview with the war criminal lady with the ICC warrant on her. I hope the journalist and her accomplices won't get paid, not even travel reimbursement, should've stayed in Moscow

  • Vice News definitely had its flaws. However, as much of a hipster rag as it was, Vice was literally the last media outlet that at least was rooted in some kind of journalistic tradition. Okay, not everyone liked so-called gonzo journalism, but the key part of journalism is at least having someone out in the field interviewing people and visiting the places they were reporting about.

    People who are celebrating this don't get it that the end of Vice marks the end of journalism, period. We will enter an era o

  • I clicked on a few of their stuff and it was often made up hyped stuff designed to elicit an emotional response. Often political opinions stated as facts. Not only wokey stuff but i recall inflaming stuff and clickbait. You found no information there unless what you wanted to know was their political opinions du jour was.

    In short not a great loss.

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