How The Media Business Works

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
May. 18, 2019

Advancing the narrative is far more important than making a profit.

Case in point, Vox on May 8 ran an article titled, "Disney put more than $400 million into Vice Media. Now it says that investment is worthless":

Just a few years ago, big media companies were falling over themselves to bet on Vice Media. Disney made the biggest bet, by putting more than $400 million into the swashbuckling digital publisher.

Now, Disney says all of the money it put into Vice has been incinerated: In investor filings Wednesday, Disney said it no longer thinks it will ever get any return on the investment it made in Vice — a company that at one point was supposedly worth $5.7 billion.

Even though their propaganda outlet is losing money hand over fist, George Soros and a group of investors poured $250 million into the outlet just days earlier.

From NewsBusters on May 8, "Soros Investment Helps Bail Out Flailing Vice Media":

Vice Media just got some help from the biggest funder of the left: billionaire George Soros.

The edgy and controversial liberal media company raised $250 million in debt from a group of investors including Soros Fund Management LLC, 23 Capital, Fortress Investment Group LLC and Monroe Capital, according to the May 3, Wall Street Journal.

Soros needs them to keep churning out propaganda like this:

This is what it's like to take a vacation away from white people. pic.twitter.com/6cLShJ9stJ
— VICE News (@vicenews) December 6, 2018

On Wednesday, leftist propaganda outlet Salon also announced it's on the brink of bankruptcy.

(Remember, these companies are going bankrupt despite Google, YouTube, Apple, Facebook and Twitter rigging their entire platforms to suppress alt-media and favor their propaganda.)

From The Wrap, "Salon Media Announces $5 Million Sale, ‘Bankruptcy and Liquidation’ Threatened If Deal Fails":

Salon Media says they have reached an 11th hour deal to sell the company and its flagship property Salon.com for $5 million. In an SEC filing, Salon also revealed its position was dire and that it would face imminent "bankruptcy and liquidation" if the deal should fall through.

"We have agreed to sell substantially all of our assets (the "Asset Sale"), including all pertinent intellectual property rights comprising the Company's business of owning, operating and publishing the website known as Salon.com," the filing read.

Evidently, their wealthy owners cried "uncle."

The company's troubles, however began long before and were documented in detail in a 2016 Politico Magazine story, which revealed that for years Salon — deeply unprofitable — had been kept afloat by elderly benefactors, John Warnock, a co-founder of Adobe, and Bill Hambrecht a venture capitalist. The two are now 78 and 84 respectively.

"Because Salon has run deficits for almost every quarter since it was founded, the company has relied on regular interest-free cash advances from Warnock, chairman of Salon's board, and Hambrecht, a board member," Politico wrote at the time. "From Salon's founding until the end of 2015, the most recent data available, Warnock and Hambrecht have given the company nearly $20 million in cash advances, and Warnock also personally guaranteed a $1 million line of credit."

Perhaps Soros will throw a few million their way.

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