VICE Media Group Files for Chapter 11

VICE Media Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it prepares to be sold.

A consortium of lenders, including Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, has agreed to purchase the company for $225 million in the form of a credit bid. It would acquire all of its assets and assume its debt. To facilitate the sale, VICE has filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The sale is expected to be concluded in the next two to three months.

The company says it will continue to operate its multimedia brands, including VICE, VICE News, VICE TV, VICE Studios, Pulse Films, Virtue, Refinery29 and i-D. The company’s international entities, and the VICE TV joint venture with A+E Networks, are not part of the Chapter 11 filing.

“VICE serves a huge global audience with a unique brand of news, entertainment and lifestyle content,” said Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, VICE’s co-CEOs. “This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the Company and position VICE for long-term growth, thereby safeguarding the kind of authentic journalism and content creation that makes VICE such a trusted brand for young people and such a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms. We will have new ownership, a simplified capital structure and the ability to operate without the legacy liabilities that have been burdening our business. We look forward to completing the sale process in the next two to three months and charting a healthy and successful next chapter at VICE.”