DUBUC’S NEW VICE
A&E chief to step in for Shane Smith: sources
Nancy Dubuc, the boss of A&E Networks, is in “serious talks” to replace Shane Smith as chief executive of scandalscarred Vice Media, The Post has learned.
Dubuc — who sources say is stepping in as Smith battles a rising tide of sex-harassment allegations at the company he founded — has handed in her letter of resignation at A&E and will leave on April 16, according to a Monday memo sent to staff, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
“The company needs a woman to run it,” a media industry source close to the matter said, speaking of Vice — and referring to the number of sexual harassment and discrimination complaints at the Brooklyn company.
Smith, meanwhile, is poised to move to a chairman role at Vice, sources said, relinquishing the CEO title to Dubuc, under a plan being discussed by Vice’s board.
“After much soul-searching and many discussions with our board, I felt that even if it wasn’t the perfect time, it was the right time for me,” Dubuc said in the memo.
Reps from Vice declined comment. A&E confirmed Dubuc’s departure.
Smith, who has moved to Los Angeles from New York, has been missing in action at the Brooklyn headquarters and is focusing on other development deals, the insider said.
In December, Vice was the target of a New York Times exposé that reported there were at least four settlements involving sexual harassment or defamation against Vice executives, and more than two dozen women who witnessed or fell victim to sexual misconduct.
Last month, a former employee sued Vice, claiming it paid female workers less than their male counterparts.
In 2003, Smith also bragged in an interview about having sex and orgies with models he hired for shoots for his Vice Magazine.
Regardless, the larger-thanlife CEO likely isn’t going anywhere as he still controls the majority of Vice shares.
A&E owns roughly a 15 percent stake in Vice and it gave the firm its own channel, Viceland, which has struggled to attain meaningful ratings gains since it launched in 2016.
Dubuc became acquainted with Smith when she pushed for the deal to swap out History sister channel H2 for the nascent Viceland.
That deal put Dubuc on Vice’s board. She no longer sits on the board, and is not in charge of programming for the channel. That job belongs to Spike Jonze.
“Nancy is one of the best programmers out there,” a source close to Dubuc said when asked why she would be plucked for the Vice gig.
In her memo on Monday, Dubuc, who has served as A&E’s president and CEO since 2013, said: “This was the most emotionally difficult decision of my career — you have been my work family for nearly 20 years.”
In her absence, A&E’s board, along with interim chairwoman and former CEO Abbe Raven, will search for her replacement, according to the memo.