Vice Media gets $200 million investment from Disney

Walt Disney Co plans to invest $200 million in Vice Media, the edgy video maker that covers current events for the Millennials.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Vice Media is considered as one of the most successful traditional media companies that has captured the attention of young audiences. Besides Disney, it has formed partnerships with other giant media firms such as 21^st Century Fox, A&E Networks, and Time Warner. Its deal with A&E will allow it to soon have its own TV channel. Vice Media chief Executive Shane Smith said that the company is expecting to hit almost $1 billion in 2015.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that Vice Media is set to take over H2, the A&E-owned History channel spin-off. This is a joint venture among Hearst Corp, NBC Universal Inc, and Disney. A&E invested $250 million in Vice Media for a 10 percent stake. Now, the video maker is valued at $2.5 billion. According to the company, it will launch early next year its new channel with Disney, which is named "Viceland." One of its shows is "Gaycation," which stars Ellen Page and Ian Daniel. It appointed Oscar-winning film-maker Spike Jonze as the creative director.

According to the report of Fortune, Vice's valuation has more than doubled in the past year compared to what it was when A&E invested. He said they are in a $5 billion acquisition talks with "everybody." The company is also planning to launch six channels all over the world. It has signed a deal with Rogers Communications in Canada for $100 million. It also signed a deal with HBO. Smith said they are working on partnering up or buying new channels for various markets.

Vice started as a Montreal punk magazine and has grown into a global multimedia with print, television and online content as well as a recorded label and book publishing. Last year, it won an Emmy award and has carved a niche to many young customers accessing their news via digital and social media channels.