The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Vice Media

Vice Media considers 2015 IPO

Author

By John Glenday, Reporter

December 16, 2014 | 2 min read

Vice Media, the youth orientated digital business, is reportedly considering an Initial Public Offering next year as it seeks to capitalise on a rising market.

This follows the recent appointment of mergers and acquisitions lawyer James Schwab as co-president, who has been tasked with supervising a $500m fund for the acquisition of content, technology and distribution deals.

The cash was sourced from a $250m investment by A&E Networks and a further $250m investment by Technology Crossover Ventures who have each acquired a 10 per cent stake in the business.

Speaking to the Financial Times Vice Media chief executive Shane Smith said: “Vice will go on a deal spree in 2015. Our war chest is the size of the full valuation of our competition so we will see some major . . . deals happen.

“We would be stupid not to think about an IPO.”

Smith believes that an IPO would prove to be a tantalising prospect for investors, saying: “That’s a pretty sexy offering. This is the birth of the next big media brand. How would the public markets treat that and the opportunity to get into that on the ground floor?”

Vice Media

More from Vice Media

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +