Vice Media has confirmed it has secured a further $500m (£303.8m) in financing from two more minority investors, in part to fund “thousands of hours” of new video content for online, mobile and TV.
The youth digital media brand said on Thursday that the new investment, $250m each from Silicon Valley firm Technology Crossover Ventures and US cable broadcaster A+E Networks, valued the company at more than $2.5bn.
Vice, much admired by mainstream media companies for its perceived ability to attract YouTube-generation teens and twentysomethings to its digital video output, said the A+E money will be used fund global expansion and “develop thousands of hours of multi-screen content across digital, mobile and linear screens”.
The TCV investment will go towards developing “a world-class slate of digital products and distribution capabilities”.
Vice added that it remained independently controlled and operated by its senior management, led by co-founder and chief executive Shane Smith, after its latest minority investor deals.
“We believe that these new partnerships position us at the forefront of the coming convergence of media and technology, while preserving and protecting our independence,” Smith said. “High-quality content and innovative tech platforms will drive Vice through this next period of growth on our relentless quest for total media domination.”
Suitors have been queuing up to get a piece of Vice recently, with months of talks with Time Warner about taking a stake in the company collapsing last week, reportedly over a disputed valuation of the business.
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox paid $70m for a 5% stake in Vice last year, valuing the company at more than $1bn. James Murdoch joined Vice’s board last November. Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP is another minority investor.
Smith has previously claimed that Vice would be worth $30bn if it went public, making it as valuable as the New York Times.
Vice operates in 36 countries and claims to reach more than 150 million people per month across all platforms.
The company has been rapidly expanding its video business and hard news journalism, posting often controversial reports from war zones and making headlines with scoops including a video series that gave an inside look at the Islamic State.
“Our audience is forcing us to do it,” Smith told the Guardian earlier this year. “Young people, who are the majority of our audience, are angry, disenfranchised, and they don’t like or trust mainstream media outlets. They’re leaving TV in droves, but music and news are the two things that generation Y in every country are excited about and interested in.”
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”.
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.
