NEW YORK (AP) — Vice Media plans to put off a number of hundred staff and now not put up subject matter on its Vice.com web page, the corporate’s CEO stated in a memo to personnel Thursday.Vice, which filed for chapter closing yr sooner than being bought for $350 million to a consortium led by way of the Citadel Funding Team, could also be having a look to promote its Refinery 29 publishing industry, CEO Bruce Dixon stated in his memo to personnel.It’s the newest signal of economic issues buffeting the media trade. Virtual websites the Messenger, BuzzFeed Information and Jezebel have all close down prior to now yr, and legacy media retailers just like the Los Angeles Instances, Washington Publish and Wall Side road Magazine have additionally observed activity cuts.
As soon as a swashbuckling media corporate geared to a more youthful target audience with an immersive storytelling taste that encompassed virtual, tv and movie retailers, New York-based Vice was once valued at $5.7 billion in 2017.
Dixon introduced no specifics concerning the layoffs, rather then announcing masses of other folks will probably be affected and will probably be notified early subsequent week. The New York Instances reported that the corporate recently has about 900 other folks on personnel.
“I do know that pronouncing good-bye to our valued colleagues is tricky and feels overwhelming, however that is the most productive trail ahead for Vice as we place the corporate for long-term inventive and fiscal luck,” Dixon stated.He stated it was once now not cost-effective for Vice to distribute its virtual content material, together with information, how it has been. He stated Vice would put extra emphasis on its social channels and search for other ways to distribute its content material.As a part of its strategic shift, Dixon stated Vice would apply a studio type.Ahead of submitting for chapter coverage closing yr, Vice canceled its “Vice Information This night” tv program as a part of a spherical of layoffs then.
