The top of Vice Media Group has knowledgeable staff that the corporate will cease publishing content material on Vice.com and will probably be chopping “a number of hundred” positions.
A memo from Vice CEO Bruce Dixon, which was despatched to employees on Thursday, explains that restructuring modifications are being made “to adapt and greatest align our methods to be extra aggressive in the long run.”
In keeping with Dixon’s memo, “it’s not cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content material the best way we now have achieved beforehand.” He stated Vice Media would search to distribute its digital content material by partnering with established media corporations quite than publishing on to its personal web site.
The web site didn’t seem to have talked about these modifications to readers as of early Thursday night. The memo didn’t state precisely when the corporate would cease publishing to Vice.com, however CBC Information confirmed that it had already occurred.
Dixon stated the corporate can also be trying to promote its Refinery 29 media web site.
The memo from Dixon additionally stated the corporate will present particulars to affected employees within the coming days. The New York Occasions experiences that Vice presently employs greater than 900 individuals.
5 years in the past, Vice introduced plans to slash 10 per cent of its then-2,500 employees. It has since had additional rounds of job cuts, together with late final yr, and earlier in 2023, too.
The Canadian Media Guild says it has 27 members who work for Vice. The union has reached out to the media firm for data and awaits a response that’s anticipated subsequent week.
The Brooklyn-headquartered Vice filed for chapter safety in Could of final yr. It was then formally offered to a gaggle of its former lenders, in keeping with a July 2023 information launch describing the completion of that course of.
Wider media sector cuts
The pending cuts at Vice observe others at main media corporations on either side of the border.
Earlier this month, Bell Media introduced vital programming cuts and a divestment of dozens of regional radio stations. Employees cuts have been additionally a part of the modifications.
In December, CBC/Radio-Canada introduced plans to chop roughly 10 per cent of its workforce and make programming cuts of its personal.
Within the U.S., in the meantime, the Los Angeles Occasions, the Washington Publish and the Wall Avenue Journal additionally not too long ago introduced job cuts.
And like Vice, different media websites with a robust digital focus have not been proof against the challenges of staying afloat: Jezebel’s web site was shut down final yr, whereas BuzzFeed’s information operations have been shuttered.