Vice Media cuts a whole bunch of jobs and stops publishing on web site

Vice Media plans to chop a whole bunch of jobs because it stops publishing on Vice.com, in response to a memo from chief government Bruce Dixon.

In May, the agency filed for chapter within the US and was purchased by Fortress Investment Group.

Mr Dixon stated Vice plans to “partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content”.

Media corporations together with Channel 4, Los Angeles Times, and Business Insider have additionally minimize jobs this yr.

Mr Dixon stated “it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” within the memo seen by the BBC.

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

The firm continues to promote the enterprise, in response to Mr Dixon who stated the announcement shall be made within the coming weeks.

Before submitting for Chapter 11 chapter safety, a process which postpones a US firm’s obligations to its collectors, Vice introduced earlier layoffs by shutting down its flagship TV programme.

Launched in 1994 as a fringe journal referred to as Voice of Montreal by Shane Smith, Gavin McInnes and Suroosh Alvi, Vice Media operates in additional than 30 international locations.

The firm was valued at $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in 2017 and was as soon as heralded as a part of vanguard of firms set to disrupt the normal media panorama with edgy, youth-focused content material spanning print, occasions, music, on-line, TV and have movies.

The hope was that Vice would entice hundreds of thousands of youthful individuals by way of social media platforms akin to Facebook and Instagram.

The agency’s manufacturing included My Journey Inside the Islamic State, through which a Vice journalist filmed alongside the phobia group in Syria. Vice additionally adopted basketball star Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters workforce on a “sports diplomacy” journey to North Korea.

More current content material included documentaries about controversial influencer Andrew Tate and a movie about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, by actor Sean Penn.

However, the corporate’s revenues have been flat for some years and it has additionally struggled to show a revenue. Vice’s plans to go public by way of a merger additionally failed.