Vice Media files for bankruptcy: Three lenders bid for majority of company

Vice Media Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday morning after agreeing to an asset purchase agreement with a group of its lenders. 

The group of lenders, including Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital agreed to provide $225 million in the form of a credit bid for “substantially all of the company’s assets,” the company said in a statement. 

The three creditors, who will purchase the majority of the company unless Vice finds a higher bidder, have provided $20 million in cash to the group to “fund its business throughout the sale process” over the next two to three months, the company said.

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Vice claims between $500 million-$1 billion in assets, liabilities

Vice, which filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, had between $500 million to $1 billion in estimated assets as well as estimated liabilities, and more than 5,000 creditors, according to the filing. 

“This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the Company and position Vice for long-term growth, thereby safeguarding the kind of authentic journalism and content creation that makes Vice such a trusted brand for young people and such a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms,” Vice’s Co-Chief Executive Officers Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said in the statement. 

The sale is expected to conclude in the next two to three months, the company said. 

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The future of Vice’s media brands

All of the multi-platform media company’s brands, including Vice, Vice News, Vice TV, Vice Studios, Pulse Films, Virtue, Refinery29 and i-D, will continue to operate and produce content, the company said. 

“We will have new ownership, a simplified capital structure and the ability to operate without the legacy liabilities that have been burdening our business,” Dixon and Lokhandwala said. 

In the statement, Vice said its international entities and Vice TV’s joint venture with A&E are not part of the Chapter 11 filing.

Vice bankruptcy follows BuzzFeed News’ shutdown

Vice’s bankruptcy filing comes weeks after the BuzzFeed News announced it was shutting down, two years after the outlet won a Pulitzer Prize.

The company also announced plans to cut 15% of its workforce.

“While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti said in the memo shared with USA TODAY.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vice Media files for bankruptcy: Three lenders bid for majority of company