Who Bought Into Vice Media? From Canadian Taxpayers and Disney to George Soros

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The company is in bankruptcy now — but it couldn’t have come this far without staggering losses from eager, deep-pocketed investors to the tune of $1.6 billion

vice investors disney bob iger shane smith george soros
From left, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Vice cofounder Shane Smith, and investor George Soros. (Getty Images)

Vice Media may be technically bankrupt as of Monday morning, but it couldn’t have gotten this far, or sent so many lantern-jawed journalists to such far-flung places, without a host of committed investors along the way. And it all started with a little bit of seed money from Canadian taxpayers.

The year was 1994 — no one could have known the internet was about to change everything about media — and the government of Canada agreed that Montreal’s thriving underground music, art and culture scene would do well with a bit more print-magazine love. Two years later, the Voice of Montreal was a successful venture, founders Shane Smith, Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes changed the name to Vice, and the world’s wildest digital-media snowball began rolling downhill.

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