Vice Media shutters liberal news site, gears up for massive layoffs: ‘This is the best path forward’

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Vice Media’s progressive news site is the latest one to shutter as media organizations continue to weather a difficult time.

Vice Media CEO Bruce Dixon said in his memo to staff last week that several hundred employees would be laid off and the company would stop publishing content on Vice.com. 

Last year, Vice filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy before being sold for $350 million to a consortium led by the Fortress Investment Group. Now, Dixon has announced that hundreds of impacted staffers will be notified in the coming days that their positions will be eliminated. 

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“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,” Dixon said in the memo to staffers, according to the Associated Press. 

Dixon added that distributing its digital content was no longer cost-effective, and the company would instead focus on its social channels and look for new ways to distribute content. 

The AP noted that Vice was once a “swashbuckling media company geared to a younger audience with an immersive storytelling style that encompassed digital, television and film outlets” and was valued at $5.7 billion in 2017. 

Vice Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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This announcement followed a series of media layoffs and shutdowns at liberal outlets such as BuzzFeed News and Jezebel over the past several months.  

Many other media outlets have reduced headcounts in recent weeks. 

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The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.