Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the latest in a string of digital media setbacks

Vice Media on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the most recent digital media company to falter after a meteoric rise.

Vice Media on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the most recent digital media company to falter after a meteoric rise.

A consortium of lenders — Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital — is buying Vice for about $225 million, in addition to taking on a significant amount of the company's debt. Other parties will be able to submit bids as well.

Vice said it expects the sale to be wrapped up in the next two to three months. It said that during the process its media brands will continue to produce content and the company will keep paying its employees and vendors.

In a prepared statement, Vice co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said the “accelerated court-supervised sale process” will strengthen the company and position it 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.”

Vice assets and liabilities are worth between $500 million and $1 billion, according to Monday’s filing.

The bankruptcy filing arrives just weeks after the company announced it would cancel its flagship “Vice News Tonight” program amid a wave of layoffs expected to impact more than 100 of the company’s 1,500-person workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company also said it would end its Vice World News brand.

There has been a wider surge of media layoffs and closures, including job cuts at Gannett, NPR, the Washington Post and other organizations. In April, BuzzFeed Inc. announced that its Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News was being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent.