Bankrupt Vice Media plans sale to Fortress Investment-led group

By Yuvraj Malik

(Reuters) -A group of buyers including Fortress Investment Group may take over Vice Media after the consortium's $225-million offer for the bankrupt company emerged as the only "qualified" bid on the table, according to a legal filing.

Thursday's auction has been canceled and a hearing to approve the sale of the company was scheduled for Friday, according to a filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan on Thursday.

Popular with millennial audience through its websites Vice and Motherboard, Vice Media filed for bankruptcy protection last month in a move that capped years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures.

At the time, Vice disclosed that lenders led by Fortress offered about $225 million in the form of a credit bid for almost all of the company's assets and some of its liabilities.

GoDigital Media told Reuters in an emailed statement that it made a higher bid for Vice but the offer was turned down by the sellers.

"We think Fortress's decision is the wrong choice, and the company, employees, partners and consumers will suffer," GoDigital said.

Privately held Vice was valued at $5.7 billion at its peak in 2017. Its investors include James Murdoch's Lupa Systems, TPG, Technology Crossover Ventures and Antenna Group.

Internet media publications have lately struggled to grow their ad-dependent revenue as Big Tech platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Alphabet's Google attracted the bulk of digital advertising spends.

Meanwhile, the ad market had been suppressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, further challenging the business at online publishers.

Fortress and Vice did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the potential deal, which must be approved by the bankruptcy judge.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri)