Vice Media has secured more than $30 million in debt financing from Fortress Investment Group, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the new-media company faces a financial crunch.
Vice, which is trying to sell itself, owes millions of dollars to vendors and advisers, some of whom haven’t been paid for more than six months, according to people familiar with the matter. Some vendors have resorted to collections agencies to retrieve payments, some of the people said.
Fortress’s loan comes as the once-hot Brooklyn upstart — whose assets include Vice News, Motherboard, Refinery29 and Vice TV — has struggled for years to show rapid growth and live up to an early valuation of $5.7 billion.
As part of its agreement to provide the $30 million-plus in debt financing, Fortress extended the maturity on an existing loan that came due at the end of last year, the person familiar with the matter said. Fortress will allow Vice to tap portions of the new debt commitment over time to help ensure that the company finds a buyer, the person said.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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