Vice Media, the self-styled anti-establishment muckraking news service which is now bankrupt, has been bought out by George Soros’ Soros Fund Management, Fortress Investment Group and Monroe Capital for $350 million. Vice Media was once valued at as much as $6 billion.
Back in May Jewish Business News reported on how Soros Fund Management and Fortress Investment Group were looking to acquire Vice Media.
“With the support of our investor group, we now have the resources to strengthen our business, our partnerships and our content creation across all platforms,” Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, Vice’s co-CEOs, said. “Under new ownership and with this leadership team, Vice is positioned to drive our uniquely differentiated brand of news, entertainment and lifestyle content that makes Vice a trusted brand for global audiences and a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms.”
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“We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of Vice and we are excited to build upon the achievements of one of the most iconic brands in news and entertainment,” Vice and Fortress said in a joint statement.
Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company that began as a punk magazine called Voice of Montreal in October 1994 in Montreal. The company grew to even have its own TV company, Vice TV, a basic cable television channel that offered investigative news reports and documentaries. At its height, Vice had offices in 35 cities around the world that worked on five different businesses and the company even looked to holding an IPO. Media titans Disney and Fox even invested at one point.
Soros Fund Management LLC (SFM) is the principal asset manager for the Open Society Foundations (Open Society) – the world’s largest private funders of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. SFM was originally founded by George Soros in 1970, and its financial success enabled Mr. Soros to create Open Society to pursue his philanthropic vision. Today, SFM’s mission is to protect and grow Open Society’s resources. SFM invests globally in a wide range of strategies and asset classes, including public equities, fixed income, commodities, foreign exchange, alternative assets and private equity.