Vice Media cancels flagship show, announces ‘painful’ layoffs

Announcement comes after BuzzFeed said last week it would close its news division.

Vice Media has announced “painful” cuts, including the cancellation of its main news show in the latest round of cuts to hit the struggling news business.

The youth-focused media group said Thursday it will cancel the hit TV show “Vice News Tonight” as part of a restructuring that will result in layoffs.

“In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing VMG and the wider news and media industry, we are continuing to make a number of painful but necessary reductions, primarily in our news business,” said co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala. in a memo to employees.

The number of layoffs has not been specified, although sources told CNN dozens of employees would be affected.

The cuts come after BuzzFeed announced last week it would close its news division and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver said on Tuesday he expected to leave ABC News amid job cuts at parent company Disney.

Other media outlets, including CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, Vox Media and NBC News, have also cut workers in recent months.

The layoffs reflect an industry-wide funding crisis that has raised existential questions about the future of journalism. Employment in the United States has fallen by more than a quarter between 2008 and 2021, according to the Pew Research Center, due to the collapse of the traditional print advertising model.

Known for its brash, youth-oriented content, Vice was once hailed as one of the most promising names in digital media and was valued at nearly $6 billion at its peak.

But like other digital media startups, Vice has struggled to turn high expectations into a sustainable business model in the post-print advertising landscape dominated by Google and Meta.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Group Black had made an offer to buy Vice for about $400 million.