Vice Canada not impacted by U.S., U.K layoffs
15 layoffs reported at Vice’s U.S. office as company restructures.
By H.G. Watson, Associate Editor
Vice Canada is not affected by layoffs announced at Vice offices in the United States and the United Kingdom on May 24.
The Guardian reported on May 24 that among the reported 20 layoffs were 15 people from the U.S. office, three from the office in the U.K and two foreign correspondents. The layoffs are reportedly part of a restructuring that includes the promotion of Josh Tyrangiel.
According to CNN, Tyrangiel, who was hired to oversee Vice’s HBO news show, was promoted to oversee all of Vice’s news operation, “to unify the Vice News television and digital platforms.”
Rakhee Sapra, a spokesperson for Vice Canada, confirmed in an email to J-Source that the Canadian operations are unaffected.
Vice, which operates in 35 countries, is valued at more than US$4 billion, according to Fortune magazine. In Canada, the company entered a partnership with Rogers Communications to start Viceland, a 24-hour cable channel, which premiered in February. As part of that arrangement, it hired 100 new staff to produce content for the channel.
Recently, Vice Canada staff voted to join a union. The Canadian Media Guild filed with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to certify the union on Apr. 29.
Several Vice Canada staffers also took to Twitter to reassure readers that yes, they still have their jobs.
VICE News Canada is OK. We still have jobs.
— Hilary Beaumont (@HilaryBeaumont) May 24, 2016
I still have a job.
— Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) May 24, 2016
— Rachel Browne (@rp_browne) May 24, 2016
H.G. Watson can be reached at hgwatson@j-source.ca or on Twitter.
H.G. Watson was J-Source's managing editor from 2015 to 2018. She is a journalist based in Toronto. You can learn more about her at hgwatson.com.