Vice’s Shane Smith hints ‘strongly’ at IPO in 2017

No final decision made yet

LOS ANGELES, Dec 30, (RTRS): Vice Media has long hinted at a possible IPO. But 2017 may be the year his company finally takes the plunge.

In an interview at Variety’s annual Dealmakers breakfast at Spago in Beverly Hills, Vice CEO Shane Smith told Variety co-editor in chief Andrew Wallenstein that the brand’s leadership is taking a hard look at going public.

Were talking to some banks and were getting ready, Smith said, adding that executives would present the case for an IPO at a scheduled company board meeting in January. Next year is going to be a banner year and now is the time to do it.

No final decision has yet been made on a Vice IPO. But Smith was bullish on the prospect, saying the ownership stakes media giants such as Disney and 21st Century Fox have in place compelled the company to take a hard look at its books, beginning the sort of due diligence that an IPO would require. Its ironic our partners forced us to go through that process and test the market, because when we went through that process, our actual growth metrics were higher than had been anticipated, he said.

Media

That hypothetical IPO would take place against a media-business landscape that Smith expects to transform radically in the coming year.

In the de-stratification of the status quo, youre seeing companies implode, new companies being made, he said. We believe that on the public markets, the vote will be for the future, which would be us, so we need to sort of turn on the jets. Smith indicated that part of his jet-turning-on plan includes acquisitions buy some tech companies, buy some TV companies, distressed media assets, of which there are a lot.

The Vice chief did not hold back from predicting what 2017 would hold for other media companies as well. Smith who speaking to reporters at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August predicted a forthcoming media bloodbath forecast doom for poorly positioned competitors. On the digital media front, he reiterated his prediction that 30% of URLs will go away, just go bankrupt. On linear television, where Vice is partnered with A+E Networks on the less-thana-year-old cable channel Viceland, Smith said.

He saved his most dire outlook for Viacom, the beleaguered television-film conglomerate that saw plans for a proposed merger with CBS Corp. evaporate amid family and boardroom drama surrounding Sumner Redstone, whose company National Amusements holds a controlling interest in both CBS and Viacom.

Noting that former Viacom chief Tom Freston sits on Vice’s board of directors, Smith said, That’s like a Shakespearean tragedy, with Viacom just circling the drain.

Smith predicted that 2017 would see a series of mergers and acquisitions in media as complementary companies pair off in hopes of better positioning themselves to survive in what he characterized as an increasingly hostile landscape.

That trend, he said, could be fueled by changing political realities following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Apple, in particular, according to Smith, could be headed for a major acquisition.

If Trump allows companies like Apple to repatriate money, and they say, We have to spend a certain amount here to make jobs and st, because its all about making jobs, then Apple will come back with a butt-pile of money and say, Okay, lets throw some golden bricks at people.’

The hit that Apple competitor Samsung took with the massive recall of its Galaxy Note7 phone bought Apple time, according to Smith, but the U.S. tech company is still primed to make a play for a major media acquisition on the scale of AT&T’s bid for Time Warner. I think they have to, Smith said of such a move.

Smith also talked about how Trump has impacted the news business, in which Vice, with its digital offerings and new nightly news program on HBO, has become a growing player, targeting the millennials that typically eschew cable news.

Long

If you look at the greatest tragedies of our time, Iraq, Afghanistanthat sort of built CNN, Smith said, noting that Vice had long been the kid brother in news before gaining recent legitimacy with the HBO deal and an interview special with President Obama. In a way, Trump is fantastic for our business, because were mostly millennial. It’s been incredibly galvanizing for our demo.

Asked whether he worries about Trump’s apparent aggression toward the news media, insulting particular reporters and outlets and threatening to tighten libel laws, Smith offered that he was not.

Smith also discussed the international growth of Vice, with the company’s content on pace to reach as many as 80 countries by 2018.

As this year’s Dealmakers keynote interview subject, Smith joined an illustrious group of CEOs who have joined the Variety event in recent years, including Disney’s Bob Iger, CBS Leslie Moonves and The Chernin Group’s Peter Chernin.