SINGAPORE – Many digital media companies have faced financial setbacks in recent years, partly due to a decline in advertising revenue and readership that was made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vice Media, a news agency and television company with global reach once valued at US$5.7 billion (S$7.6 billion), could become the next star to fall as media reported on Monday that it is preparing to file for bankruptcy.

The American-Canadian company, which has struggled financially for years, is desperately looking for a buyer to avoid the filing. More than five companies have expressed interest in acquiring it, but the chances of that are growing increasingly slim, an insider told the New York Times.

Here are five media organisations that have shuttered or filed for bankruptcy as a result of their financial woes.

1. Buzzfeed News

Buzzfeed News, a quirky digital publication that rose to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning operation was shut down on April 20, signalling the end of a pioneering era of online journalism.

The publication was founded in 2011 and quickly grew to become a serious challenger to more established news outlets. It produced stories that were both trivial and serious, often through listicles with bold, flashy headlines that were designed to attract eyeballs.

However, the news department failed to make money and was unable to cope with a slowdown in digital advertising, changing audience habits, coupled with the cost of employing journalists around the world.

Disney considered buying the site for about US$1 billion in 2014 but no deal could be agreed on. Buzzfeed listed on the stock exchange in 2021, but its share price has since collapsed and the business was valued at US$86 million as at April 28, according to CNBC.

2. Vine

Vine, which pioneered the short-form video trend, took the Internet by storm in the early 2010s. The app had users make six-second videos that loop continuously, often to a funny effect.

It was doing so well that celebrities like singer Shawn Mendes found fame on the platform. But its success was short-lived.

As Vine had no monetisation programme to reward its creators, many of them left the platform for alternatives like Instagram, which offered a similar video service that allowed content creators to earn a living.

Vine’s usership plummeted rapidly and the app was discontinued in January 2017 .

3. Gawker

Gawker, a popular gossip site that helped define digital media in the 2000s, shuttered twice in recent years.

It was shut down in 2016 after then parent company Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy, following an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought against it by former pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan. Gawker had published a video of him having sex with his former friend’s wife. Gawker settled the case for US$31 million.

The site was auctioned off for US$1.35 million in 2018 and then brought back to life in July 2021, but it could not escape getting axed in February due to commercial reasons.

4. News Corp’s Australia newspapers

American tycoon Rupert Murdoch shut down dozens of local newspapers in Australia in 2020 and ended print production for most of its smaller publications there.

He closed 36 papers and made 76 online-only as part of a shake-up of his news business News Corp, the roots of which are in Australian newspapers.

News Corp senior executives partly attributed the restructure to the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit advertising revenues and accelerated a downturn in Australia’s media sector.

5. Reader’s Digest

Once the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s, Reader’s Digest has gone through a number of tumultuous years that involved filing for bankruptcy twice.

Its parent company, Reader’s Digest Association, first filed for bankruptcy in 2009, citing a drop in advertising spending and the debt load incurred in its acquisition. It filed for bankruptcy a second time in 2013 to cut US$465 million in debt.

The publishing company has since recorded a 110 per cent growth in earnings in 2021 after implementing rebranding and digital initiatives. Renamed Trusted Media Brands, its streaming TV, social media, web, and print platforms collectively reach 100 million consumers worldwide, according to software company Cision.