The brand new chief government officers of Vice Media, Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, laid out their industrial technique for the embattled firm in an interview Tuesday, providing a imaginative and prescient largely similar to the one shared by their predecessor, Nancy Dubuc.
The co-CEOs, who assumed the shared function in February three days after Dubuc resigned, burdened their concentrate on ideas like enterprise fundamentals, efficiencies and operational focus, dispelling any notion that their appointment will mark a shift in technique from the writer.
As an alternative, of their dedication to the course charted by their predecessor, the 2 have sought to mission a way of stability on an organization whose valuation has dropped steeply from its 2017 peak of $5.7 billion.
“Our function is to set the course for the corporate, align the group to that course after which drive towards that,” Dixon stated. “Vice is a family title, and we’ve to leverage off the again of that.”
The promotions of Dixon and Lokhandwala come at a defining second for the 29-year-old media firm, which has courted potential consumers aggressively over the previous six months because it contends with monetary struggles.
The beleaguered enterprise has attracted acquisition affords from plenty of potential suitors, together with the Greek broadcasting firm Antenna and, in current days, a roughly $400 million bid from Black media collective Group Black.
Whereas the CEOs declined to supply particulars on the continuing gross sales course of, quite a lot of components recommend that their chief accountability is to shepherd the corporate via an acquisition—not repair its ailing enterprise, stated Andrew Becks, chief working officer of media company 301 Digital.
The duo share intensive backgrounds in finance and banking, and their swift, inside appointment comes after working alongside Dubuc since 2018. Together with their unchanged industrial technique, these components prime Dixon and Lokhandwala to concentrate on the pressing matter of the sale at hand.
“Whenever you put a finance and a technique individual in control of an organization searching for an exit, you invite a sure interpretation,” Becks stated. “The principle concern stays the essence of the model. For Vice, that model fairness is their essential providing.”
For advertisers, the core attraction of Vice Media stays its distinct model and premium studio choices, in keeping with Becks. To that finish, the corporate launched a new model marketing campaign on Wednesday, together with an up to date DEI report, looking for to additional underscore its model id.
