Other previously interested parties include Disney, which sought to purchase the embattled company at $3.5 billion in 2016. Group Black investment firm is taking advantage of the lower price tag by placing a $400 million bid to acquire Vice. Although Vice was initially open to only selling some of its assets, the company now seeks to sell itself entirely. However, the media company will likely fetch a price below $1 billion. The media company, worth $5.7 billion in 2017, now seeks a valuation of at least $1 billion to $1.5 billion. Vice Media, which was on the market before, is restarting its sale process after previously interested bidders backed out at the initial price tag. Through the latter, the company seeks to pump in more capital and expertise into building Black-owned media properties and future Black-owned media brands. The first part of the agenda is building a network of Group Black members, brands, and creators, while the second focuses on Group Black Ventures. The media collective accelerates its approach to enhance the face of Black media via a two-pronged system. The investment firm, which strives to create a sustainable and more equitable media ecosystem, has eyes on two megadeals – BET and Vice Media acquisition. Last week, BuzzFeed, which has a market value of $75m after a disastrous initial public offering last year, announced the closure of the remainder of its once highly lauded BuzzFeed News operation and that it was cutting 180 staff across the rest of the business.Group Black, co-founded by technology entrepreneur Travis Montaque and Richelieu Dennis, Shea Moisture hair care company and Essence magazine owner, is expanding Black media ownership.
Vice was among a generation of fast-rising digital media upstarts such as BuzzFeed that once threatened to supplant legacy media companies with the recipe for attracting millennial audiences. Disney wrote off its $400m investment in Vice as worthless in 2019. The promise of successfully tapping the media habits of a global youth audience attracted hundreds of millions of dollars of investment from companies including Disney, which explored a $3bn-plus deal to buy Vice in 2015.
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Vice, which began as a punk magazine in Montreal almost three decades ago, expanded into digital media and TV striking deals with companies including Sky and HBO. “The company, its board and stakeholders continue to be focused on finding the best pathway for the company.” “Vice Media Group has been engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of strategic alternatives and planning,” the company said in a statement. If a sale cannot be agreed – suitors are said to be seeking a sub-$1bn deal – a bankruptcy process would result in Vice continuing to operate normally while an auction process is run.
The same month, Nancy Dubuc, who took over as chief executive from controversial co-founder Shane Smith in 2018, announced her surprise departure. In February, Fortress Investment Group, the company’s debt holder, extended a $30m funding line to enable Vice to pay overdue bills to vendors. Last week, the company – which has been evaluating its future since plans to float using a special purpose acquisition vehicle (Spac) collapsed two years ago – announced it was cancelling its popular Vice News Tonight as part of a restructuring that could result in more than 100 staff being made redundant. Vice, which hit a valuation of $5.7bn in 2017 as media giants including Rupert Murdoch, WPP and Disney clamoured for a slice of its youth appeal, has been seeking a sale at a price tag of about $1.5bn.
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