As previously reported, the avant-garde of Social Justice™ corporate media, Vice, is going bankrupt.
Vice was once an interesting gonzo-style network that sent reporters out to off-the-beaten-path locales to expose little-known cultural phenomena or under-exposed political issues to Western audiences.
Then, like a talented underground band that gets signed to a major label, once it got picked up by HBO and other corporate media giants, it began churning out generic, mediocre Social Justice™ bilge of the sort below.
It turns out that simply replicating the Buzzfeed model is a surefire path to going broke for an online news outlet.
The decline began in earnest when longtime corporate media executive Nancy Dubuc took over as CEO in 2018 to remedy alleged #MeToo sexual harassment rampant at the outlet.
Via Hollywood Reporter:
The former A+E Networks chief will be stepping in as CEO, filling a role long assumed by co-founder Shane Smith. The announcement comes as the new media company — which includes a linear cable channel partnership with Dubuc’s A+E networks, which led to her board seat — has found itself embroiled in #MeToo-era turmoil amid allegations of sexual harassment and pay inequity that has seen top executives exit.
In February 2023, it was announced that “Nancy Dubuc departed as Vice CEO on Friday after helping clean up the company’s reputation as a toxic workplace during her five-year reign,” according to the New York Post, failing to mention that she had also driven the network to the verge of bankruptcy.
Now, in the Vice tradition of welcoming cancerous influences onboard, multinational currency trader George Soros is reportedly considering bailing Vice out.
Via New York Post:
Bankruptcy-bound Vice Media will reportedly be bought out of Chapter 11 by investors who include billionaire George Soros for about $400 million — after the Brooklyn-based company was once valued at nearly $6 billion.
The cash-strapped media company has been prepping for the bankruptcy filing after failing to find a buyer over the past year, The Post reported last week.
The company’s post-bankruptcy arrangement will be to sell itself to the Soros Fund Management — founded by the 92-year-old left-wing activist — and Fortress Investment Group in a deal that would value the once-high-flying Vice at just $400 million, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The move could spell a return to the spotlight for bombastic Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith, who held the role of CEO in the company’s heyday, including being valued at $5.7 billion in 2017.
Perhaps Vice can welcome its new leader with an expose of his days as an agent of the Third Reich confiscating property from fellow Jews, which Soros has described as the time of his life that “made his character.” Watch as he fondly recollects his crimes, for which he explains that he has no guilt.
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