Rupert Murdoch is said to be an admirer of multimedia outfit Vice Media, and soon will be more than that after making an investment to acquire a 5% stake in the company for the 21st Century Fox portion of the newly-split News Corporation media empire.
Murdoch’s company will kick $70M into Vice Media, a move which extrapolates to a $1.4B valuation for VM.
Vice is said to be excited about keeping full control of its operation while gaining access to the massive global distribution platform controlled by Murdoch.
Vice Media’s Shane Smith said, “We get to make all the content we want? With the best platforms in the world?
Grow our brand exponentially? Become the next global media brand? And all the while own the vast majority of the company and vote 95% of the board?” and then rather crudely asked where he had to sign.
Britain’s The Guardian describedVice as “the multi-media purveyor of music, fashion and quixotic journalism.”
Vice’s roots are in Montreal, Canada, but has been resident in Brooklyn NY since the 1990s.
It is also involved in web-based video content, and is said to have some 60 internet channels in operation. It is popular among the often difficult to reach 18-34 demographic.
