Vice Media in bankruptcy. The publishing group that owns Vice, which until a few years ago was considered a model for doing business with online content, has accepted the terms of an asset purchase agreement with a consortium of its lenders, under which the consortium provides total purchase consideration of approximately $225 million (approximately €207 million) for substantially all of the company’s assets, plus the assumption of significant liabilities at closing. The Lender Consortium includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management e Monroe Capital.
To facilitate the sale, Vice filed for Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All of Vice’s media brands will continue to produce and distribute content.
The publishing group had been in trouble for some time. In 2017, the company was valued at $5.7 billion. in recent years, however, the group had failed to generate profits, a problem that brings out how the business of media groups like this, which have focused heavily on the enormous potential of social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, have failed to reach their economic goal. Disney and Fox have invested hundreds of millions in it, then depreciating the value of their investments. Recently the CEO of Vice Media, Nancy Dubicleft the company after five years.
Vice’s case is not isolated. Not long ago, in fact, another colossus of online journalism, BuzzFeedannounced the closure of the news department and the consequent layoff of about 60 people.