Vice Media to lay off 10 percent of its staff

Vice Media will lay off about 10 percent of its current workforce as the company reorients and eliminates redundant positions, the company’s CEO said Friday.

In a memo to all staff first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, CEO Nancy Dubuc said that the layoffs would affect every department, from the company’s back end to its television production studios and news department.

{mosads}”Having finalized the 2019 budget, our focus shifts to executing our goals and hitting our marks,” wrote Dubuc. “We will make Vice the best manifestation of itself and cement its place long into the future.”

U.S. employees, recently unionized under the Writers Guild of America East, will receive 10 weeks of severance and their vacation/sick days paid out, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“We are fortunate that Vice’s early diversification has made us more resilient to a shifting industry,” Dubuc added in Friday’s memo to employees. 

The company is hoping to achieve profitability as it seeks a buyer, THR reports, which noted that Dubuc told the outlet last year in an interview that profitability was on the horizon for Vice Media. 

“The question isn’t if we’re going to be profitable but how soon, and it’s sooner than most people think,” she said in 2018, according to The Hollywood Reporter, while acknowledging possible future layoffs at the time.

Layoffs at Vice Media follow similar cuts at BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and Mic, which all announced significant staff reductions in January.