Online publisher Vice Media will be sold to a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group after the bankruptcy court approved its $350m bid on Friday.
The investor group, which includes Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, bumped up its offer to $350m for all of Vice’s assets and some liabilities, from its initial bid of $225m. The offer is in the form of a credit bid.
Popular with the millennial audience through its websites Vice and Motherboard, Vice Media filed for bankruptcy protection last month in a move that capped years of financial difficulties, top-executive departures and the company’s prior efforts to sell itself.
“We believe [this] represents the best path forward for Vice,” the media company’s co-chief executive officers, Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, said in a statement.
Vice’s lawyer Fred Sosnick said in court the sale would put the company “on a secure footing for the future”. Sosnick said 10 proposals were received for the acquisition of the whole company and five for certain parts of the business.
When BuzzFeed News was being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent.
