A company laying people off is not confirmation that the things you don't like about them are hurting their business. It just might have more to do with the pandemic than their politics.
10% cut before pandemic (Feb): https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/vice-media-layoffs-250...
Vice cancelled from HBO: https://www.businessinsider.com/hbo-canceled-vice-news-tonig...
More cuts (Nov): https://www.wsj.com/articles/vice-media-to-shrink-workforce-...
Many of the famous projects at vice, featuring war coverage, projects involving psychedelics and cutting edge mental health treatment among a few, are not nearly as prevalent now. Further many of the arguably top journalists to join in Vice’s history have gone (many, but not all)
These projects are why I started reading/watching Vice in the first place.
I think the pandemic is going to be used by companies like Vice as an excuse for a failing business model.
As already mentioned, they were going out of business long before the pandemic. The Pandemic is just an excuse for their failures.
There are so many news sites dedicated to progressive content that Vice turned into. They lost their edge, competitive advantage, and I would imagine, most of their viewer base. This is why they failed.
For example, video game sales have had a really great last quarter.
People may read more during the pandemic, but the advertisers are advertising less:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vice-m...:
> Vice Media lays off 155 employees as coronavirus pandemic wipes out ad revenue
> ...The cuts come as the news media industry suffers from an epic drop in advertising revenue as companies cut spending amid the pandemic.
> Digital media companies, including Quartz and Buzzfeed, have slashed jobs, furloughed employees and cut salaries in an effort to survive the outbreak.