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Vice reached a near-$6 billion valuation in the 2010s after landing an HBO show…

Brief

VICE rose in the 2010s from a Montreal alt magazine to an HBO show and nearly a $6 billion valuation after Murdoch and Disney investments, then collapsed into bankruptcy about a decade later. An insider profile by @BCC_Mitchell describes drug-fueled meetings, a CEO tossing $1 million in cash at staff, and a shift away from its counterculture roots toward chasing 'woke' clicks.

Why it matters

Vice reached a near-$6 billion valuation in the 2010s after landing an HBO show and investments from Rupert Murdoch and Disney, then entered bankruptcy roughly a decade later.

Key details

  • @BCC_Mitchell's insider profile recounts Vice's internal culture: drug-fueled editorial meetings, a CEO who reportedly threw $1 million in cash at staff during a holiday party, and employees calling the company 'a cult.'
  • The profile highlights that cofounder Gavin McInnes went on to found the Proud Boys and was banned from major platforms, and argues Vice 'turned its back on the counterculture' while chasing 'woke' clicks.
Source evidence

VICE was the most important media company of the last half century. it shaped a generation, then died. here, in the deepest insider profile of the 2010s media giant yet, some insight into why: it turned its back on the counterculture it birthed. new ripper from pirate wires:

Pirate Wires (@PirateWires)

In the 2010s, VICE was peak hipster American culture.

The brand was known for loudly breaking taboos. Its cofounder, Gavin McInnes, would go on to found the Proud Boys and get banned from basically every social media platform for “hate speech.”

By the mid-2010s, what began as an alt magazine in Montreal had landed an HBO show and convinced Rupert Murdoch and Disney to invest. It was, at one point, worth almost $6 billion.

A decade later, it was bankrupt.

@BCC_Mitchell, the youngest employee at Vice in 2012, takes us inside their rise and fall — from drug-fueled editorial meetings, to the CEO throwing $1m in cash at staff during a holiday party, to the team starting to chase ‘woke’ for clicks…

…to, eventually, the CEO himself abandoning what made the company famous in the first place.

“Vice was a cult,” Mitchell writes. “It was also the best business school on Earth.”

Below, the deepest insider profile yet of a 2010s media giant 👇

— https://nitter.net/PirateWires/status/2084741919842898419#m