Vice Media to lay off ‘several hundreds’ and stop publishing on its site

Vice Media will no longer publish content on its website and will lay off “several hundred” people from its staff of over 900 employees over the next week, Associated Press reported citing a memo to staff by the company’s chief executive officer Bruce Dixon who said that digital content distribution was no longer cost-effective for Vice.

Vice would lay more emphasis on the other channels of distribution, he said as per the memo. This comes as almost all legacy media brands- The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Vox Media and The Los Angeles Times- have announced job cuts while digital platforms like Messenger, BuzzFeed News and Jezebel have shut down in the US.

Last year, Vice had filed for bankruptcy in the US and announced the shutdown of its Asia bureau. The media company was then sold for $350 million to a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group. In 2017, Vice Media was valued at $5.7 billion. The company was launched in 1994 and soon moved to New York building a reputation with tough journalism and stories from all over the world. The media company’s assets include film and TV production, an in-house marketing agency and brands such as Refinery 29 and Unbothered.

In the memo, Bruce Dixon said that the company plans to sell Refinery 29.

“I know that saying goodbye to our valued colleagues is difficult and feels overwhelming, but this is the best path forward for Vice as we position the company for long-term creative and financial success,” he said.