As part of a restructuring initiative, Vice Media Group is discontinuing operations on its primary news platform, vice.com, and letting go of a considerable number of employees. The company revealed that it recognises the necessity to reallocate resources and streamline operations. Additionally, it has acknowledged that several hundred positions will be eliminated.
The company now plans to redirect its focus and partner with recognised media organisations to share its digital content, including news, on their global platforms. As part of this shift to a studio model, Vice will cease the publication and distribution of articles on its website, vice.com, exclusively generating content for other media brands.
Along with this, the company is also considering the potential sale of Refinery29, its women’s lifestyle brand.
Despite substantial investments from major players such as Disney and Fox, Vice has grappled with profitability, leading to successive rounds of layoffs and cost-cutting measures. This mirrors the wider challenges faced by the media industry, with a decline in advertising revenue and heightened competition from platforms such as TikTok prompting significant layoffs at major news organisations.
Originally established in Montreal in the 1990s as an alternative punk publication, Vice evolved into a multimedia empire co-founded by Gavin McInnes, Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith. However, Vice’s journey has been marked by controversy, including its association with McInnes, who later founded the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist militant organisation aligned with the far right.
In 2023, Vice successfully emerged from bankruptcy under the new ownership of Fortress Investment Group. Despite attempts to secure a buyer, no suitable arrangement materialised.
