Vice Media, a Canadian-American digital firm, plans to put off a number of hundred workers and not publish its flagship web site content material, the corporate’s CEO mentioned in a memo to workers on Thursday.
Millennial-focused and recognized for its edgy news and life-style content material, Vice had been among the many rising stars of a brand new breed of digital media corporations however struggled as promoting revenues shrank.
The transfer is the most recent dose of miserable news for America’s struggling media trade, which noticed BuzzFeed News shut up store final yr after 12 years in business.
“With this strategic shift comes the need to realign our resources and streamline our overall operations at Vice,” Bruce Dixon, chief government of Vice Media Group, instructed workers in a memo, copies of which had been posted on-line by a number of Vice reporters.
“Regrettably, this means that we will be reducing our workforce, eliminating several hundred positions.”
Dixon mentioned it’s “no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously.”
Moving forward, the corporate “will look to partner with established media companies to distribute our digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model,” he added.
Employees affected by the layoffs will likely be notified early subsequent week.
It marks a dramatic fall for a brash upstart media firm that was valued at a surprising $5.7 billion six years in the past however ended up submitting for chapter final May.
The subsequent month, a bunch of collectors led by Fortress Investment Group picked up the corporate for a relative tune at $350 million.
Many digital media startups have been unable to transform enthusiasm for his or her model into the sorts of revenues that buyers had projected.
Last yr, a slowdown within the internet advertising market and tightening of credit score situations made the state of affairs more and more difficult for comparatively younger media firms like Vice.
Vice was based in 1994 as a Canadian journal and grew into a web based media group with news web sites and tv operations.
It cultivated a “bad boy” picture and its success captured the eye of the media world because it linked with younger audiences.
But in 2018, co-founder Shane Smith stepped down as chief government after the group was tainted by stories of office harassment, which led to the dismissal of three workers.
Source: www.dailysabah.com