Vice To Stop Publishing On Site, Lay Off Hundreds Of Staff [Video]

It’s a dark day in the digital news industry. Again.

In a stunning reversal of fortune for a media empire once valued at $5.7 billion, Vice Media told its approximately 900-person staff Thursday that its laying off several hundred of its employees and will cease publishing any content to Vice.com, the company’s digital news arm.

In his memo, CEO Bruce Dixon told employees that “it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously. Moving forward, we will look to partner with established media companies to distribute out digital content, including news, on their global platforms, as we fully transition to a studio model.”

Vice did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment on what a “studio model” entails, nor did it confirm whether all the layoffs would be consolidated to the Vice.com staff.

Instead of publishing on the website, the company will …