Vice Media Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Once Worth $5.7B

The once-promising media startup Vice Media Group, which peaked at a valuation of nearly $6 billion in 2017, has applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the online publisher plans to sell the company at a discount to a consortium of lenders.

Founded in 1994, the company, whose assets include Vice News, Motherboard, Refinery29 and Vice TV, has agreed to sell them to Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital in exchange for $225 million in credit. The lenders will also take on significant liabilities, listed at $500 million to $1 billion, according to the court filing.

Creditors can swap their secured debt rather than pay cash for the company’s assets.

“This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the Company and position VICE for long-term growth,” co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said.

The lenders are also giving more than $20 million and other finance as part of the agreement, which has a clause that allows Vice to be sold to a third party in the event that a stronger offer is made.

To help control costs, the company cut hiring last year, let go of employees, and changed the way it did business. However, despite their best efforts, the selling alternatives were limited by escalating debt and expenses in addition to a high valuation.