Do Retail Investors Want to Own Woke News Vice Media?
Posted on 05/11/2021
The once-edgy magazine Vice linked up with corporate investors over the past decade. Vice Media Group LLC is owned by capitalist private equity investors like TPG Capital and other corporate media like The Walt Disney Company and A&E Networks Group. Other investors include The Raine Group and Vice co-founder Shane Smith. Vice Media is valuing itself at nearly US$ 3 billion, including debt, far lower than its US$ 5.7 billion valuation before the TPG investment. News media properties are becoming less attractive for institutional investors and corporate owners. Recently, Verizon sold off a large portfolio of media assets (Verizon Media) to funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc.
Blank check company 7GC & Co. Holdings Inc. seeks to merge with Vice Media to go public, giving current investors 75% ownership of the company and a pathway to exiting.
In a blow to Vice Media, on June 10, 2019, HBO announced the cancellation of Vice News Tonight and severed its seven–year partnership with Vice Media.
The trend is coming as another digital media group called Bustle seeks to go public through a SPAC for 2021.
