Three top executives at Vice Media will be leaving the company, a memo to staff said Tuesday, a day after its $350 million sale closed to a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group.
Katie Drummond, Vice’s senior VP of global news and entertainment, will be stepping down from her role to “pursue other opportunities”, according to the memo. Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Motherboard, and Emanuel Maiberg, Motherboard’s executive editor, will also be leaving in the coming weeks.
Additionally, Matthew Schnipper, Vice’s senior director for global news operations will be departing the company in September, “to focus fully on a book he’s writing for Random House.”
Jamie Clifton, editor-in-chief of Vice Culture, and Erica Manson, executive producer of Vice News and Entertainment, will remain at the company leading edtiorial, multiplatform and video teams.
On Monday, the post-bankruptcy acquisition of Vice was completed with Fortress, Soros Fund Management, and Monroe Capital purchasing the company for $350 million. At one time Vice Media was estimated to be valued at $5.7 billion.
“Our business is fully committed to the continued editorial success and growth in our publishing brands,” read the memo sent to staff on Tuesday. “All would not be possible without our passionate editors and strong brand guardians in leadership.”
The internal note continued that “today’s update is bittersweet as we are announcing some changes in senior editorial leadership.”
According to the note, Drummond and Koebler will follow up with their respective teams “on an interim structure in the coming days.”
The memo thanked Drummond and Koebler for their “immense contributions” to Vice. “What a team and tremendous legacy,” says the memo.
“While more change is surely not easy, I have full confidence in the team who will lead our rebuild efforts,” the memo continued. “And I am certain this is exactly what we need in our leadership for the future.”