Vice Media Group, still grappling with the ripple effects of its bankruptcy and aftermath, has tapped Mike Lang, a 30-year-plus veteran of TV, film and game industries who was one of Hulu’s founding executives, as interim executive chairman.
Lang joins as executive chairman of the Brooklyn-based media company after serving as an adviser to Fortress Investment Group, one of Vice Media’s former lenders. Fortress, along with Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, acquired the company in a deal worth $350 million after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and in July 2023.
Lang most recently was CEO of Pixel United, a U.K.-based mobile-first games company, which is part of publicly traded Aristocrat Leisure based in Australia. Prior to Pixel United, he held senior roles at Discovery Communications, Fox Entertainment and Disney. While at Fox, Lang was one of the founding executives of the Hulu streaming joint venture with NBC (and was instrumental in engineering News Corp’s acquisition of Myspace). He also served as CEO of film studio Miramax, as well as strategic adviser to Universal Music Group.
Lang has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Lang comes on board after the exit of Hozefa Lokhandwala as co-CEO earlier this month, leaving Bruce Dixon the sole CEO. In memo to staff Monday, Dixon wrote that Lang will help Vice Media in its ongoing restructuring efforts to help get Vice Media on the path toward “financial stability and future growth.”
Last month, Vice Media announced another round of layoffs, after several Vice News shows failed to get renewed, and consolidated its five operating divisions down to two. The latest layoffs eliminated fewer than 100 jobs. Vice Media most recently had just over 1,000 staffers worldwide; at one point, it counted about 3,000 employees.