VICE Media lay off hundreds of staff and will cease publishing on website

Vice- one the darling of new media platforms which gained popularity with a Gen Z audience, has today announced it will no longer publish on its flagship website. This will result in mass lay offs and the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The company will no longer publish content on its own website and will instead use social media and to outsource publishing to other platforms.

Vice, which was valued at $5.7 billion in 2017, filed bankruptcy in the US in May of last year. The media organisation was bought by Fortress Investment Group a month later for $350 million.

Before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a procedure which postpones a US company's obligations to its creditors, Vice announced previous layoffs by shutting down its flagship TV programme.

According to a memo written by CEO Bruce Dixon addressed to employees, the company plans to "partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content".

The memo, which was shared online by multiple VICE reporters read: “With this strategic shift comes the need to realign our resources and streamline our overall operations at Vice,”.

“Regrettably, this means that we will be reducing our workforce, eliminating several hundred positions".

Media news: In a memo, Vice CEO Bruce Dixon says the company will lay off hundreds of employees and stop publishing on the https://t.co/JeDcdfTJsW website. pic.twitter.com/KEzMTnatZY

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 22, 2024

Employees who are affected by the layoffs will be notified next week. However, VICE's sister company Refinery 29 will still operate as normal .

However, Dixon's memo detailed that the company was in 'advance discussion to sell the business".

It is believed that a  slowdown in the online advertising market and tightening of credit conditions last year made the situation increasingly challenging for relatively young media companies like Vice.

Vice was founded in 1994 as a Canadian magazine and grew into an online media group with news websites, and television operations and a strong social media presence- generating YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok content.

Vice currently operates in over 30 countries.

Its appeal lay in the Media Organisation's cultivated  “bad boy” image as it provided reporting on drugs, youth subculture, sex and identity politics.

In 2018, co-founder Shane Smith stepped down as chief executive after the group was tainted by reports of workplace harassment, which led to the dismissal of three employees.