Vice Media gets $30 million-plus lifeline from Fortress as bills pile up
Company owes millions of dollars in overdue payments to several vendors, some of whom have resorted to debt collectors
Vice Media has secured more than $30 million in debt financing from Fortress Investment Group, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the new-media company faces a financial crunch.
Vice, which is trying to sell itself, owes millions of dollars to vendors and advisers, some of whom haven’t been paid for more than six months, according to people familiar with the matter. Some vendors have resorted to collections agencies to retrieve payments, some of the people said.
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Vice Media app on a smartphone (Vice Media)
Fortress’ loan comes as the once-hot Brooklyn upstart — whose assets include Vice News, Motherboard, Refinery29 and Vice TV — has struggled for years to show rapid growth and live up to an early valuation of $5.7 billion.
As part of its agreement to provide the $30 million-plus in debt financing, Fortress extended the maturity on an existing loan that came due at the end of last year, the person familiar with the matter said. Fortress will allow Vice to tap portions of the new debt commitment over time to help ensure that the company finds a buyer, the person said.
Fortress, which was among a consortium of firms that lent the media company $250 million in 2019, is one of the first in line to get paid in the event that the company is sold, people familiar with the matter said.
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Vice Media office in Amsterdam (Vice Media)
Vice had been in talks for months to sell to Greek broadcaster Antenna Group, seeking a valuation of around $1.5 billion. But Vice last year missed its revenue goal of $700 million by more than $100 million, and those talks have since stalled, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
Vice recently launched a new process to sell the company under the oversight of a designated mergers and acquisitions committee, according to a Vice spokesman.
The payments that Vice owes to individual vendors range from tens of thousands to over a million dollars, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc poses with her Governors Award backstage at the 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California, Sept. 12, 2015. (Reuters/Danny Moloshok)
Vice owes about $900,000 to digital-publishing company Ranker, which placed some of Vice’s content, such as videos on other websites it partners with, for a share of the Vice ad revenue, according to some of the people.
AIR.TV, another company that helps Vice place its content and ads, said Vice owes it north of $400,000. Vice stopped payments more than seven months ago and in recent months stopped responding to any communication, despite requesting additional services from AIR.TV, CEO and founder Luke McDonough said.
"We can survive this, but this amount for us is crushing," he said.
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The company is also late paying media measurement firm Nielsen and digital marketing and analytics firm Cardinal Path, according to some of the people familiar with the matter.