A reporter for Vice Media Group blasted the company for dishing out massive salaries to executives as the once-high-flying firm staggered toward bankruptcy — yet can’t spare a dime for him to pay for court records.
Joseph Cox, a senior staff writer for Vice-owned tech site Motherboard, tweeted screenshots from from documents filed by Vice in its bankruptcy proceedings listing its payments and transfers to top brass for the year before the media company filed for Chapter 11 protection in May.
“Today at Vice I was unable to pull a court record, which costs 10 cents, because the company isn’t paying bills,” Cox wrote Monday. “Meanwhile so many execs, some which led Vice to bankruptcy, make $700-900k, including bonuses at the time VICE laid off much cheaper workers. It’s worse than I thought.”
Last month, a fund tied to billionaire George Soros and SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group — Vice’s main creditors — won control of the company, which at its peak was valued at $5.7 billion.
According to the court documents, which the Post reviewed, Jesse Angelo, Vice’s former global president of news and entertainment, pulled in compensation totaling $815,254 between May 2022 and May 2023.
Angelo, the former publisher of The Post, cashed biweekly paychecks to the tune of $28,125, along with a bonus of $134,850 bonus he received last July, the records show.
Angelo announced his departure from Vice in March, though the documents shared by Cox show that he was paid through May, when Vice filed for bankruptcy.
The Post reached out to Angelo for comment.
Other executives still working at Vice also raked in near-seven-figure payouts before the company went bankrupt. Vice President Subrata De made $779,365, Chief People Officer Daisy Auger-Dominguez earned $748,583 and COO Cory Haik received $726,068, according to court records cited in Cox’s tweet.
Representatives for Vice did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Cox declined noti.group’s request for comment Tuesday.
Soros Fund Management and Fortress bid $225 million for the media company — the only offer a bankruptcy judge deemed “qualified” as the group also offered a plan for Vice that was sustainable for the business, three people familiar with the purchase told the New York Times.
The acquisition is expected to be finalized this month. Fortress, owned by hard-charging dealmaker Wes Edens, has reportedly begun to receive buyer interest in Vice’s individual business units, which include Refinery29.
Vice was founded by Shane Smith in 1994 as a disruption to traditional storytelling.
The Brooklyn-based outlet became known for its bold documentary-style essays and next-gen approach to topics like cultural issues, sex and music.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
