Vice Media is set to go on a “deal spree” and is considering an IPO in 2015, company CEO Shane Smith said in a new interview.
“Vice will go on a deal spree in 2015,” Smith told the Financial Times. “Our war chest is the size of the full valuation of our competition so we will see some major … deals happen.”
The multiplatform media company has some powerful media investors and is primed to forge more partnerships.
A&E Networks agreed in August to pay $250 million for a 10 percent share of Vice Media. Rupert Murdoch‘s 21st Century Fox and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston also have invested in Vice, as has Technology Crossover Ventures, the fund that has stakes in Facebook and Netflix.
With all that financial support, Smith told the FT, “We would be stupid not to think about an IPO.”
Vice’s current assets include a magazine, website, record label and film production company.
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