Vice Media is getting rid of its Dumbo office in New York as it tries to get to profitability

Getty Images nancy dubuc john legend vice

Vice Media is consolidating its offices from three to two as it aims for profitability.
The move will help the heavily funded yet still unprofitable venture-backed media company cut costs.
The move will mostly impact agency Virtue Worldwide, which is powering the company and is expected to add 100 more roles this year.
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Youth-focused Vice Media is consolidating its offices to two from three as it aims for profitability, moving its agency Virtue Worldwide from its longtime home in Dumbo to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Business Insider confirmed.

The move, which insiders have seen coming for a while, is significant as it helps the heavily funded yet still unprofitable venture-backed media company cut costs.

Virtue is seen as key to getting the company in the black. It was founded in 2005 as a creative agency and stands out as being one of just a handful of competitive ad agencies to grow out of a publishing company.

In 2017, Vice Media combined it with its other agencylike businesses into the full-service agency called Virtue Worldwide.

Virtue grew its revenue by 25% last year, a Vice spokesperson said, and the agency sees non-US markets as its biggest growth opportunity. To that end, it's looking to hire 100 people this year, on top of the 400 employees it has worldwide, 150 of which are in the US, according to someone with direct knowledge of the situation who asked to remain anonymous.

The immediate significance of the Dumbo move may be cost-cutting, but it also has symbolic importance. Dumbo has long been the home of Virtue and Carrot, the digital agency that Vice bought and merged with Virtue in 2017. This was Vice in its heyday, when its agency was booming with some 200 people. Virtue has gone through several leadership changes and exits of top leaders in the past year.

Having Virtue and Vice under the same roof could make it easier for them to collaborate.

Virtue has historically operated independently of Vice Media, with most of its work being done directly with clients and not appearing on Vice Media properties, which some advertisers want to steer clear of with its edgy reputation.

But Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc, who took over in March 2018, has been trying to tie the company's units together under the phrase "One Vice," and Virtue execs have said Virtue often leans on Vice for its data and production abilities.

Separately, Refinery29, the women-aimed media company that Vice bought in November for mostly stock, will stay in its Manhattan offices.

That decision could ally concerns some Refinery29 employees had about how their progressive female company would fit in at Vice Media, which has been fighting to improve its reputation after #MeToo problems.

Patrick Coffee contributed to this report.

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