Vice Media to be acquired by Fortress-led lender group for $350M

Online writer Vice Media can be offered to a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group after the chapter courtroom authorized its $350-million bid on Friday.

The investor group, which incorporates Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, bumped up its provide to $350 million for all of Vice’s belongings and a few liabilities, from its preliminary bid of $225 million. The provide is within the type of a credit score bid.

Popular with the millennial viewers by its web sites Vice and Motherboard, Vice Media filed for chapter safety final month in a transfer that capped years of monetary difficulties, top-executive departures and the corporate’s prior efforts to promote itself.

“We believe (this) represents the best path forward for Vice,” the media firm’s co-chief govt officers, Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, stated in a press release.

Vice’s lawyer Fred Sosnick stated in courtroom the sale would put the corporate “on a secure footing for the future.” Sosnick stated ten proposals had been acquired for the acquisition of the entire firm and 5 for sure components of the business.

When Vice filed for chapter, it owed $474.6 million to the Fortress-led lender group. Vice borrowed a further $10 million from these lenders throughout its chapter proceedings.

Privately held Vice was valued at $5.7 billion at its peak in 2017. Its traders embody James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, TPG, Technology Crossover Ventures and Antenna Group.

Internet media publications have recently struggled to develop their ad-dependent income as Big Tech platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Alphabet’s Google attracted the majority of digital promoting spends.

Meanwhile, the advert market had been suppressed as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, additional difficult the business at on-line publishers.