The following excerpt was reported by The New York Times’ Lauren Hirsch and Benjamin Mullin:
A group of buyers including Fortress Investment Group is set to take over the bankrupt Vice Media company after bidding $350 million to acquire it out of bankruptcy, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Multiple bidders put in offers to acquire Vice Media, but only Fortress’s was deemed “qualified,” meaning the others did not meet the bar Vice had set for buyers, one of the people said. Deals for bankrupt companies require approval by a bankruptcy judge, who deems whether a plan to emerge is sustainable for the business.
The three people with knowledge of the deal spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process is confidential. A bankruptcy auction for the company originally scheduled for Thursday was called off.
Hozefa Lokhandwala and Bruce Dixon, Vice Media’s co-chief executives, told Vice employees in an email Thursday that they intended to forward Fortress’s bid to the bankruptcy court for approval.
“While we received multiple bids for the company, none of the other bids rose to the level of being deemed a superior bid,” they wrote.
Fortress initially bid $225 million, but increased the offer to $350 million in recent days.
Mr. Lokhandwala and Mr. Dixon said in their note that they expected the sale to close in July; the company would then begin operating under new ownership.
As the sale process proceeds, Vice has some pressing issues to sort out. Many of its freelancers have complained that the company has not paid them, and some unionized employees have released a statement saying that the company should lay off fewer employees and that the offered severance package was too small. In the United States, Vice employees have started a GoFundMe page to support their laid-off co-workers, who they say have not been paid severance.
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