Vice Media is set to stop publishing stories on its website and terminate “several hundreds” of jobs, the latest sign of distress among once-mighty digital media groups that had relied on web traffic for revenue.
“It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” chief executive Bruce Dixon told staff on Thursday, in a memo viewed by the FT. He added that the company would look to partner with “established media companies” to distribute its content online.
The decision comes after Fortress Investment Group, which acquired Vice out of bankruptcy last year, has struggled to find a buyer for the company.
BuzzFeed on Wednesday said it would cut 16 per cent of its staff, while announcing plans to sell the publisher Complex for $109mn — a third of the price it had paid for it just three years ago.