Avant-garde Vice Media in Time Warner’s sights

a Time Warner is in talks to acquire a stake in Vice Media, the company that combines punk culture with online journalism, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The discussions value Vice Media at US$2 billion to almost US$3 billion, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Vice Media has a show on HBO, one of Time Warner’s cable-television channels.

Alex Detrick, a spokesman for Vice Media, declined to comment, as did Keith Cocozza, a spokesman for Time Warner. Both companies are based in New York.

A deal would give Time Warner’s TV network a property that has successfully developed content for new formats such as the web, as well as traditional TV.

Vice Media, known for its savvy packaging of youth culture, attracts younger male audience coveted by advertisers from YouTube to HBO, where its correspondents report from areas of conflict around the globe. The company also makes

for Viacom’s MTV. The company, backed by billionaire Rupert Murdoch, has said that it’s poised to double revenue to US$1 billion ($1.17 billion) by 2016. Co-founder Shane Smith said that Vice Media may pursue an initial public offering.

Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox acquired about a 5 per cent stake in Vice Media last year, according to Smith. The price was US$70 million, Fox said in a regulatory filing, suggesting a valuation of US$1.4 billion. Murdoch’s son, James, sits on the company’s board.

The talks were reported by Sky News, which said that one potential deal structure involved Time Warner injecting its HLN news channel into Vice Media in return for about half of the enlarged company.

Time Warner, which just spun off its magazine unit Time, also owns the CNN cable news channel and the Warner Bros film studio.