Media company Vice filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday morning to facilitate its sale as a group of lenders including Soros Fund Management stand ready to acquire the troubled outlet.
As Breitbart News reported, the demise of the once much-lauded new-media darling that drew major funding from Disney and Fox began earlier this month.
Its financial troubles came after a tumultuous set of challenges over the years as it blossomed from a basic punk magazine into a global news outlet with deals at HBO and its own film studio.
Vice said it had now agreed to the terms of an asset purchase agreement with a consortium of its lenders. These include Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital.
AFP reports the bidding consortium had submitted a credit bid of about $225 million “for substantially all of the Company’s assets, in addition to the assumption of significant liabilities upon closing,” Vice said.
“To facilitate the sale, Vice has filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York,” it said in a statement.
In its Chapter 11 petition with the court, the New York-based company said it had estimated assets of between $500 million and $1 billion. It also estimated it had more than 5,000 creditors.
In 2017, Vice Media was valued at $5.7 billion — more than the market capitalization of the New York Times.
Vice’s difficulties come after the closure of fellow free digital media groups BuzzFeed News as ad revenues dried up and both had struggled to attract new investments, taking on debt to stay afloat.
Elsewhere various media companies have also started downsizing. Disney, Insider, ABC News, NPR, and Vox Media have all enacted layoffs of their own in recent months.