Fortress Credit Corp. ranked among the biggest secured creditors, with claims totaling about $475 million, the filing on Monday showed. Vice secured commitments for debtor-in-possession financing from its creditors, including consent to use more than $20 million of cash to keep its operations going for now.
Vice secured a $450 million investment from private equity firm TPG in 2017, which valued the firm at $5.7 billion. The figure was startling for a media upstart, especially while so many of its industry peers struggled to generate profits. Other investors have included Walt Disney Co. and Fox Corp.
In the filing, Vice estimated it has more than 5,000 creditors and that it would have funds for distribution to unsecured creditors.
Its bankruptcy filing is a milestone for the digital media arena. In February, Vice said Nancy Dubuc was leaving the company after five years as chief executive officer, and then in late April Vice shuttered its flagship TV news show and laid off more than 100 staff.
“Vice News Tonight” started in 2016 as a newscast on HBO and won acclaim for its coverage of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. HBO ended that partnership in 2019. Recently, the show aired on Vice TV, the company’s cable channel.
This year, BuzzFeed Inc. shut down its news operation and online publisher Insider Inc. said it’s cutting about 10% of staff.
—Bloomberg News
