Vice News Shutting Down, Website 'Set to Be Taken Offline'

This is curtains for me I’m afraid, after nine years.

Feeling all over the place emotionally, & more to come tomorrow, but one thing I will say is that vice, to me, has always been about the work & the people who made the work. Not the dickheads who drove it into the ground. https://t.co/R56pOyyxri

— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) February 22, 2024

Learn to code

— Tropical Regicide 🕊 (@TropicalLiberty) February 22, 2024

Vice CEO Bruce Dixon told shell-shocked staffers on Thursday that the once high-flying media company plans to stop publishing content on its website and layoff "hundreds" of employees as part of a major reorganization of its business.

"After careful consideration and discussion with the board, we have decided to make some fundamental changes to our strategic vision at Vice," Dixon said in an email to staff Thursday afternoon. Dixon said "it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously," explaining that Vice would "partner" with other media companies to distribute its content and "fully transition to a studio model."

"As part of this shift, we will no longer publish content on vice.com," he said. As part the pivot away from news, Dixon said Vice will be "eliminating several hundred positions," and those effected will be notified early next week. Currently Vice has fewer than 1,000 employees worldwide.

The stunning announcement came hours after rumors spread that the ailing company — once heralded as the future of digital media and valued in the billions — was set to delete its entire website.

Sources told Mediaite that Vice employees received an anonymous tip on Wednesday night telling them to back up their stories because the website was set to be taken down. Panic set in, the sources said, which was exacerbated by the company shutting off the ability of employees to download their emails on Thursday.

Dixon and senior leadership throughout Wednesday declined to answer questions about the site's future. "CEO and senior leadership is not taking multiple opportunities to deny the rumors, which is bad," one staffer said. "They've been asked by the senior editorial leadership and haven't responded."

Your career was the company I created and you drove it into the ground via your obsession with the club I created. You’re the dickhead, my dear. https://t.co/CvB6bPlwzw

— GavinMcInnes (@XGavinMcInnes) February 23, 2024