Vice To Stop Publishing On Site, Lay Off Hundreds Of Staff

It’s a dark day in the digital news industry. Again.

In a stunning reversal of fortune for a media empire once valued at $5.7 billion, Vice Media told its approximately 900-person staff Thursday that its laying off several hundred of its employees and will cease publishing any content to Vice.com, the company’s digital news arm.

In his memo, CEO Bruce Dixon told employees that “it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously. Moving forward, we will look to partner with established media companies to distribute out digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model.”

Vice did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment on what a “studio model” entails, nor did it confirm whether all the layoffs would be consolidated to the Vice.com staff.

Instead of publishing on the website, the company will instead put “more emphasis on our social channels as we accelerate our discussions with partners to take out content to where it will be viewed most broadly,” Dixon said, adding that impacted employees will be notified of their dismissals early next week.

Vice, a news outlet lauded for its edgy, bold and immersive storytelling, is now the latest casualty of a media industry weathering one of its grimmest economic climates in recent history. News outlets have struggled to make money amid a troubled digital advertising market.

Since its value peaked in 2017, Vice has entered a period of financial downfall and nearly annual layoffs. A year ago, Vice began looking for a buyer and ultimately declared bankruptcy. The lenders who bought the company out of bankruptcy decided on Thursday’s cuts, The New York Times reported.

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