Nancy Dubuc Stepping Down as Vice Media CEO

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala have been on the job for less than two weeks as co-CEOs of Vice Media Group. But despite the newness of their current roles, Lokhandwala and Dixon are already well versed in the inner workings of the Brooklyn-based company, having served for several years in senior roles under recently exited CEO Nancy Dubuc. Lokhandwala has been chief strategy officer at VMG since October 2018, and Dixon has held the position of CFO since 2021 and was previously CFO of Vice Studios. Both were brought in by Dubuc — who departed the company Feb. 24 after nearly five years as CEO — and now seek to follow in her footsteps while shaping the future of Vice, a company that has been seeking a buyer over the past year.

A special prosecutor who doubles as a state legislator is stepping down from her role in the manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin in the death of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set.

Alec Baldwin filed documents asking the court to remove Andrea Reeb as special prosecutor in the shooting case, Reeb has decided to step down voluntarily.The office of New Mexico's First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies — who is prosecuting Baldwin — released a statement on Reeb's behalf on Tuesday, announcing the news.«After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to step down as special prosecutor in the case,» Reeb's statement explained.«My priority in this case — and in every case I’ve prosecuted in my 25-year career — has been justice for the victim,» she continued.

BREAKING – Alec Baldwin has just won another scuffle with the Santa Fe District Attorney in the criminal case over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPDATED: Reddit was suffering an hours-long issue on Tuesday that made the popular discussion site inaccessible for many users — and the company didn’t have an ETA on when it will be resolved. In an update at 2:43 p.m. PT, Reddit’s status page said, “We’ve identified a fix which may take some time to implement, in the meantime ready your bananas (or eat them!).” User reports of problems accessing Reddit’s website and apps spiked around noon PT on Tuesday, topping more than 60,000 outage reports, according to monitoring site Downdetector. The Reddit status page, at 12:18 p.m. PT, posted, “Investigating – Reddit is currently offline. We’re working to identify the issue” and subsequently said the problems stemmed from an “internal systems issue.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is pink-slipping another 10,000 employees, coming on the heels of laying off 11,000 last fall. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder and CEO, announced the planned cuts in a memo to employees Tuesday as an “update on our Year of Efficiency.” The 10,000 layoffs represent 11.6% of the 86,482 full-time employees Meta reported as of the end of 2022. Zuckerberg said Meta also is instituting a hiring freeze, canceling about 5,000 open job positions. “Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired,” Zuckerberg wrote in the memo (read it below).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Sarah Rosen, who left Twitter last year shortly after Elon Musk’s takeover over the social network, has joined Reddit as senior director of content partnerships. At Twitter, Rosen most recently was head of North America content partnerships, leading all efforts in the region across entertainment, news and sports. After eight and a half years at Twitter, Rosen quit in November, less than a month after Musk closed the $44 billion acquisition. In her new role at Reddit, Rosen will oversee the content partnerships team focused on media, sports, gaming and entertainment verticals. According to Reddit, in the last year, the content partnerships team has expanded collaborations with organizations including the NFL (for the Super Bowl), Netflix (for “Stranger Things”), Lionsgate (“John Wick 4”), HBO (“The House of the Dragon”), Amazon’s Prime Video (“The Lord of the Rights: The Rings of Power”) and the Washington Post.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After nearly 10 years on Netflix, comedy “New Girl” will be leaving the streaming service to get a new dual home on Hulu and Peacock. “New Girl” will be available on Hulu and Peacock beginning April 17, 2023. Under a shared agreement between Disney and NBCUniversal, Peacock and Hulu will share streaming rights to all seven season of the show, comprising 146 episodes in total. “New Girl,” starring Zooey Deschanel, first began streaming on Netflix in the U.S. in the summer of 2013. The show’s ensemble cast includes Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone. “New Girl” originally aired on Fox from 2011-2018.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, said it is considering launching a new Twitter-like social network. “We’re exploring a standalone, decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. The rep said the company had no additional info on the prospective social network to share. News site Moneycontrol first reported on the potential Meta service, which is code-named “P92.” The new Meta app would be based on — and interoperable with — the framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that launched in 2016 and has seen a surge in popularity since Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October.

The charity boss who was at the centre of a royal race row has stepped down from leading her domestic violence organisation because of the backlash she has faced. Ngozi Fulani revealed she has temporarily resigned as chief executive of Sistah Space, the charity she founded, as she criticised Buckingham Palace for not tackling the abuse she suffered in wake of the controversy.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Twenty One Pilots has done it again: The music video for their 2016 hit “Heathens,” from the soundtrack of DC’s first “Suicide Squad,” has officially crossed the 2 billion views mark on YouTube. It’s the duo’s second music video to pass the milestone after 2015’s “Stressed Out,” which currently has more than 2.6 billion views on the video platform. The “Heathens” video, directed by Andrew Donoho with Nate Hurtsellers serving as cinematographer, is interspersed with clips from “Suicide Squad,” which starred Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis. The music video took home the trophy for best rock video at the 2016 MTV VMAs. The “Heathens” video was uploaded to YouTube on June 21, 2016, which was 45 days before the theatrical release of “Suicide Squad.”

K.J. Yossman Alex Pumfrey, CEO of the Film and TV Charity, is stepping down after almost six years in the role. She will remain at the organization through the end of May. An interim CEO will be announced in due course. Pumfrey has been CEO of the organization since 2017, where she has re-focused the charity’s efforts on mental health and wellbeing support in addition to financial and later life support, for example launching a 24-hour help line, setting up a mental health taskforce and publishing guidance such as the Whole Picture Toolkit to ensure mentally healthy productions.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ozy Media has closed its doors after Carlos Watson, the digital media and entertainment company’s founder and CEO, was arrested and indicted on federal fraud charges. ⁦‪”In light of its current operational and legal challenges, the Ozy board has determined that it’s in the best interests of its stakeholders to suspend operations immediately,” the company said on its Twitter account Wednesday. The company’s website, ozy.com, was unreachable as of Wednesday evening. On Feb. 23, Watson was arrested in Manhattan and charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in what the Justice Department alleged was a scheme to defraud Ozy’s investors and lenders. Watson was also charged with “aggravated identity theft” for his role in the impersonation of “multiple media company executives” in communications with Ozy’s lenders and prospective investors in furtherance of the fraud schemes, federal prosecutors said.

email to staff. “Having been a journalist and media operator at large companies for my whole career, it’s time for me to strike out on my own, hang out a shingle, and start my own company.”Checker Media aims to create and invest in news, documentary and non-fiction projects and products.“Checker will develop and fund original Intellectual Property, as well as consult with companies and brands that have factual story-telling in their DNA,” Angelo’s release says.Angelo is the latest top executive to leave the media company, following former CEO Nancy Dubuc.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vinnie Hacker, a 20-year-old TikTok star who appeared in Netflix docu-series “Hype House,” has signed for representation with CAA. Hacker is a “Gen Z powerhouse,” per CAA, with more than 25 million followers across platforms including more than 15 million on TikTok and 5.7 million on Instagram. Building on his popularity on social media, he has expanded his endeavors into other areas including gaming, modeling, television and his own clothing line. In 2021, Hacker joined L.A.-based social-media collective The Hype House and subsequently starred in last year’s Netflix original series “Hype House.” (Variety‘s Daniel D’Addario, in his review of the show, said it “tells a depressing story of TikTok fameseeking.”)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With Nancy Dubuc’s departure from Vice Media Group last week, the company named longtime execs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala as co-CEOs, effective immediately. Lokhandwala (above right) has been chief strategy officer at Brooklyn-based Vice Media since October 2018, and Dixon (above left) has been CFO at VMG since 2021 and was previously CFO of Vice Studios. The duo will lead the strategic and creative direction of Vice Media, working with the board of directors. Dubuc announced her exit from Vice Media after almost five years as CEO in a memo to staff on Friday, Feb. 24. The cash-strapped company has been seeking a buyer over the past year.

Nancy Dubuc revealed on Friday she was leaving Vice Media Group as CEO after five years. She will be replaced by Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala.

Deadline reported.“Nancy joined Vice at a pivotal time and put in place an exceptional team that has positioned the company for long-term success,” the company’s board of directors said in a statement obtained by Deadline. “We thank Nancy for her many contributions and will soon announce new leadership to guide Vice.

EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Dubuc is leaving Vice Media Group where she was CEO for the past five years. She just announced her decision to her staff in a memo (you can read it below.) It comes as the board has launched a process to sell — an acquisition of the whole company, a strategic recapitalization, or other transactions involving individual assets — under the oversight of a Special Board Committee. According to sources, Dubuc was at the end of her contract and decided it was time to move on.