Vice Media plans to stop publishing content on its website and will lay off several hundred staffers.
The news was shared by the company CEO Bruce Dixon in an internal memo sent to employees on Thursday. The memo was circulated on social media shortly after.
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
Dixon said the decision was made to align the publication’s “strategies to be more competitive in the long term.”
“We create and produce outstanding original content true to the Vice brand. However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously.”
Going forward, Vice will seek partnerships with “established media companies” to distribute its content online, as it fully transitions to a “studio model,” added Dixon.
Vice is also looking to sell Refinery29, a digital media and news website focusing on issues impacting young women. Dixon said more information about the status of Refinery29’s future would be announced in the coming weeks.
The memo provided some details about the mass layoffs, noting that employees impacted by the decision would notified about the next steps early next week.
“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,” wrote Dixon.
Following Thursday’s announcement, Vice employees and their fellow media colleagues quickly took to social media to express their dismay and sadness.
“This is curtains for me I’m afraid, after nine years,” wrote Tess Owen, a Vice senior reporter.
“…One thing I will say is that vice, to me, has always been about the work [and] the people who made the work”
This is curtains for me Iām afraid, after nine years.
Feeling all over the place emotionally, & more to come tomorrow, but one thing I will say is that vice, to me, has always been about the work & the people who made the work. Not the dickheads who drove it into the ground. https://t.co/R56pOyyxri
ā Tess Owen (@misstessowen) February 22, 2024
Manisha Krishnan, an award-winning Canadian journalist with Vice, said she was “heartbroken” over the announcement.
I don't how to articulate how heartbroken I am. I have loved working at VICE, an outlet that took young reporters and the issues that mattered to us seriously, that said yes more often than it said no, a place where I met some of my best friends, all of them wildly talented
— š¦šš§š¢š¬š”š š¤š«š¢š¬š”š§šš§ (@ManishaKrishnan) February 22, 2024
VICE did stories nobody else would touch or tell as transparently, from around the world, and broke news like it was nobodyās business. And everybody was hilarious. On the best days it was the best place ever. On the other days it was a lot of trauma bonding.
— Katie Drummond (@katiedrumm) February 22, 2024
This sucks. Vice covered many topics more honestly than most other media, especially drugs and far-right extremism (ty @ManishaKrishnan and @MackLamoureux). They also liked to have fun, assigned absurd pitches and took a chance on young reporters in a way other outlets donāt
— Ben Mussett (@mussettb) February 23, 2024
Some of the best reporting on far-right extremism has come out of Vice. More specifically, from the Vice staff.
They leave a real void, and will be missed. https://t.co/SirBNNzslV
— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 22, 2024
I've been trying to find the right way to say this with any sort of weight, but reading sites like Buzzfeed and Vice and Jezebel all day every day is what made me and so many other people want to become writers and their value being reduced to monetary profit is f*cking insane. https://t.co/mxApGdvkC7
— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) February 23, 2024
Vice Media originated from Montreal-based Vice magazine, created by journalists Suroosh Alvi, Gavin McInnes, and Shane Smith.
At the peak of its success, the company was valued at US$5.7 billion but has been plagued with financial struggles over the past few years.
Last year, Vice Media reduced its global news team and ended its “Vice News Tonight” program.
Vice Media’s recent announcement follows a slew of cuts in the US and Canadian media industries.
Over the past few weeks, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Sports Illustrated, CTV, and CBC confirmed layoffs impacting a significant portion of their workforces.
With files from Imaan Sheikh
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