Vice Founder Shane Smith - P 2012
Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesVice Media, led by CEO Shane Smith, has expanded its British footprint, acquiring a majority stake in U.K. film, TV and digital production banner Pulse Films.
Financial details weren’t disclosed.
The companies have already collaborated on the feature documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits, about LCD Soundsystem’s final show, and had a strategic partnership, unveiled in 2013, to co-produce U.S.-focused projects. The deal, which comes just weeks after Vice announced it would be launching its Viceland channel in the U.K. on pay-TV broadcaster Sky, bolsters its programming capabilities across digital, mobile and linear.
Added Benski: “What Shane [Smith], Eddy [Moretti], Andrew [Creighton] and Spike [Jonze] have built will give me and my team the perfect platform to take our business to the next level. Having known them as long as I have, I know we share an ambition to do things differently while maintaining the highest creative standards.”
Pulse Films, which has offices in L.A., New York, Paris and Berlin, was founded in 2005 by Benski and Marisa Clifford.
