Vice was the quintessential digital media business, if by “quintessential digital media business” you mean an elaborate project that involved taking money from investors, paying journalists and leaving everyone poorer, as the media group’s bankruptcy filings revealed.
The company owes a lot of people money, starting with a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group, which plans to buy Vice after it goes through a prepackaged bankruptcy process. Vice owes the Fortress group approximately $475 million. The consortium has agreed to pay another $225 million for Vice, whose brands include Vice News, Refinery29, the Virtue advertising studio and i-D magazine.