
Vice Media Acquires Refinery29 in a $400M Deal - ericzawo
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/business/vice-media-refinery29.html
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siruncledrew
My first reaction was sticker-shock Vice spent _that much money_ on Refinery29
given both companies are struggling with profitability.

Then, as I read it's mostly an all-stock deal and zoomed out to the investors
it added a lot more perspective.

Vice and Refinery29 are both more like media pawns than media pillars. Vice's
major equity owners include Disney, TPG (a private equity company from Texas
that owns McAfee), and A&E (owned by Disney) - so Disney and TPG. Refinery29's
major equity owners include WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T), the Discovery
Channel, and a random private equity company.

At a high level, this acquisition is like a few financier and mega-corporation
kids in the same sandbox playing a game of toy soldiers.

This doesn't really mean anything about Vice's or Refinery29's editorials or
whatever, it's just a total mindfuck to look at these "behind the scenes"
ownership structures and think about how that relates/juxtaposes with the
companies that are owned.

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futhey
One way to make sense of this is that WarnerMedia and Disney had some assets
that needed a bit of rehabilitation, and Nancy Dubuc is taking a varied set of
assets & backers and trying to build something out of it.

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doitLP
> Vice Media, the insurgent media brand known for its arch take on youth
> culture and entertainment

Arch? In what way is Vice’s coverage of youth culture playful or teasing? They
seem to take themselves quite seriously.

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spaceflunky
How come they never mention that Vice and Proud Boys were founded by the same
person?

~~~
asguy
For the same reasons nobody brings up actual Nazis when there’s an article
about Volkswagen.

