Vice Media, the youth-oriented publisher of prominent online outlets such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy on Monday, underscoring the fraught economic environment for digital media companies as economic growth slows and the advertising market softens.
The company behind the websites Vice and Motherboard has filed for bankruptcy in the US and is set to be sold to a group of its lenders.
Vice Media Group - which was valued at $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in 2017 - could be taken over for $225m.
The youth-focused digital publisher said it will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process.
It added that it "expects to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company in two to three months".
Launched in 1994 as a fringe magazine called Voice of Montreal by Shane Smith, Gavin McInnes and Suroosh Alvi, Vice currently operates in more than 30 countries.
It was once heralded as part of vanguard of companies set to disrupt the traditional media landscape with edgy, youth-focused content spanning print, events, music, online, TV and feature films.
After a visit to the Brooklyn-based firm's office in 2012, media mogul Rupert Murdoch tweeted: "Who's heard of VICE media? Wild, interesting effort to interest millennials who don't read or watch established media. Global success."
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