May 16, 2023 12:25:00

Digital media group Vice Media files for bankruptcy, with $500 million to $1 billion in debt

The media group ``

Vice Media '', which operates the web media `` Vice '', `` Motherboard '', `` Refinery29 '', etc., filed for bankruptcy with the New York Federal Court on May 15, 2023. According to the submitted documents, Vice Media has debts of $ 500 million (about 68 billion yen) to $ 1 billion (about 130 billion yen).

vice-chapter-11-filing
(PDF file) https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23813155/vice-chapter-11-filing.pdf

VICE Media Group Enters Into Purchase Agreement with Lender Consortium

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vice-media-group-enters-into-purchase-agreement-with-lender-consortium-301824244.html

Vice Media Files for Bankruptcy - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/business/media/vice-bankruptcy.html

Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection | CNN Business
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/15/media/vice-media-chapter-11-bankruptcy/index.html

Vice Media bankruptcy: Provocative startup was once valued at $5.7 billion : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/15/1173260377/vice-media-bankruptcy

Founded in Canada in 1994, Vice Media received funding from an investment fund in 2017, and the company's value reached $ 5.7 billion (about 770 billion yen). On the other hand, the company's business conditions were not good. The New York Times reports, ``Vice Media has been working for years to turn a profit, but has consistently failed, with repeated losses and staff reductions.''

In April 2023, Vice Media decided to close the international news site Vice World News, end the broadcast of the TV program Vice News Tonight, and further reduce personnel. And so on.

Meanwhile, on May 15, 2023, Vice Media filed bankruptcy filings under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code with the New York Federal Court.

Multiple investment funds have indicated their intention to acquire Vice Media, which has filed for bankruptcy, and groups such as

Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management have acquired Vice Media's assets of 225 million. It will be purchased for $ 30 billion (about 30 billion yen) and will assume the company's debt, which is said to be between $ 500 million and $ 1 billion.

In the wake of Vice Media's bankruptcy filing and acquisition, co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Josefa Lokandwala said, 'Subject to court oversight, the ongoing Vice Media sale process will strengthen the company and ensure its long-term growth. 'We look forward to completing the Vice Media acquisition process in the next two to three months and taking the next step with a healthy and successful Vice.'

``Vice Media will continue to pay its remaining employees uninterrupted wages and benefits, as well as pay vendors and suppliers on their usual terms,'' they said.