Vice Media Files for Bankruptcy, Plans Sale to Investor Group

Vice Media Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to facilitate its sale to a group of investors, the company announced Monday. 

The Details: Vice Media owns sites like Vice (Left bias), Motherboard (Not Rated), and Refinery29 (Left bias). Once valued at $5.7 billion in 2017, Vice Media is selling most of its assets and “substantial liabilities” for $225 million to a group of investors including Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management.

Key Quote: This is not the end for Vice; in a statement, Vice Media said its brands would “continue to produce and deliver award-winning content across platforms,” adding, “Substantially all of the company's international entities, and the VICE TV joint venture with A&E, are not part of the Chapter 11 filing.”

How the Media Covered It: Right-rated outlets were more likely to use wire service articles from sites like Reuters (Center bias). Some coverage from the right tended to focus on George Soros, labeling him “left-wing.” Some coverage from the center and left framed Vice as groundbreaking; NPR (Lean Left bias) called it “provocative,” and CNBC (Center bias) called it a “digital media trailblazer.” The New York Times (Lean Left bias), known for its successful digital subscription model, said Vice’s “decayed digital colossus” served as “a cautionary tale of the problems facing the digital publishing industry.”