In August, Vice CEO Shane Smith predicted that 2017 would be a “bloodbath” of consolidation in the digital-media industry.
The reason was simple: so-called old-media companies want to buy scale online, and new-media players need cash. Smith said Vice, valued at $4 billion, was building a war chest of funding to “go out there and buy market share.”
“What you’re going to see is a mergers-and-acquisitions frenzy where the last two or three big boys buy the last scale plays to say, ‘We’ve got digital, we’ve got mobile, so we’re smart,'” Smith said. “And the digital guys are going to go, ‘F—, thank God — we’ve finally got money.'” – READ MORE
