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The New Executive Class at Vice: Who They Are and What They’ll Change

nnewsworld

2026-02-04

10 min read

Vice's new C-suite — led by Joe Friedman and Devak Shah — signals a pivot to a studio model. Read who they are and what will change.

Why the new Vice hires matter: cutting through the noise

If you feel overwhelmed keeping up with shifting media leadership and what it means for creators, advertisers and investors, you're not alone. Vice's recent round of senior recruits — most notably Joe Friedman as chief financial officer and Devak Shah as executive vice president of strategy — is a practical signal: the company is moving from a content-for-hire publisher toward a vertically integrated studio. That shift will touch deals, talent relationships, production slates and revenue models across 2026 and beyond.

Top-line: what happened and why it matters now

Vice Media, in its post-bankruptcy reboot, has accelerated hiring across finance and strategy to support a new growth chapter. These moves come as legacy publishers double down on production, IP ownership and multiplatform distribution to compete with streamers and independent studios. The most consequential hires — Joe Friedman (finance chief) and Devak Shah (strategy lead) — are not just personnel changes. They are strategic pivots that reveal how Vice plans to rebuild revenue, reframe relationships with media talent, especially creators and talent agencies, and attract brand and studio partners.

The inverted pyramid: what you need to know first

Joe Friedman joins as CFO after consulting with Vice. His background at talent agencies and finance positions positions the company to better package IP and monetize talent relationships.
Devak Shah, hired as EVP of Strategy, brings business-development experience from major media networks and will likely lead distribution, partner deals and strategic alliances.
Vice is building a studio-first playbook: it aims to own IP, scale production, and sell to streamers, networks and advertisers — not just create commissioned content.
Expect a new focus on cross-platform productization: podcasts, short-form video, live events and branded entertainment will be engineered as revenue-first franchises.

Profile: Joe Friedman — the finance chief who knows talent

Background at a glance: Joe Friedman spent over a decade and a half at ICM Partners and later worked through industry consolidation at CAA. He consulted with Vice starting in late 2025 and formally stepped into the CFO role to oversee finance and strategic capital allocation.

What Friedman brings to Vice

Talent-finance fluency. His agency experience means he understands how talent deals are structured, the economics of packaging, and how to align creative incentives with balance-sheet goals.
Deal-maker credibility. Having operated at the crossroads of talent, IP and distribution, Friedman is positioned to negotiate co-financing, equity-for-content arrangements and partnership terms with streamers and brands (see partnership playbooks).
Operational discipline. Post-bankruptcy companies need CFOs who can translate creative ambition into scalable financial models; Friedman’s remit will be to make Vice predictable and investable. For practical financial tooling and small-partnership cashflow frameworks, see forecasting and cash-flow toolkits that investors use (forecasting & cash-flow tools).

Signals from the hire

Appointing a finance chief with agency roots signals three strategic priorities:

Monetizing talent relationships. Expect Vice to structure more upfront deals with creators and on-camera talent that include backend participation and IP ownership clauses.
Packaging IP for larger buyers. Friedman is likely to fast-track slate financing and library monetization, making Vice a content supplier to streamers and broadcasters. Those deals demand cross-platform design thinking and multi-window licensing.
Preparing for growth capital. Vice will look to demonstrate unit economics and recurring revenue lines to attract investment or strategic partnerships.

Vice's finance hire is not just about tightening the books; it's about turning relationships into repeatable, saleable franchises.

Profile: Devak Shah — strategy and business development

Background at a glance: Devak Shah arrives with a track record in business development at legacy networks and distribution partners. His remit at Vice is to define strategic partnerships, distribution pathways and go-to-market plans for newly created IP and franchises.

What Shah brings to Vice

Network-level deal experience. He understands how to translate a content slates into licensing, international rights, and co-production agreements that work for both studios and platforms.
Commercial architecture. Shah will help design revenue splits, bundling strategies (ad-supported + subscription windows), and branded-content frameworks for long-term scalability.
Partnership instincts. He knows how to align Vice's edgy content identity with corporate partners and streamers seeking differentiated voices — and he’ll need partner onboarding flows that scale (reducing partner onboarding friction with AI).

Signals from the hire

Shah’s arrival suggests Vice is prioritizing:

Distribution-first thinking. Vice wants its content in multiple windows, not locked behind a single platform.
Hybrid monetization. Ad-supported tiers, branded partnerships and licensing deals will be designed together, not handled in isolation.
International expansion. Expect strategic licensing, local co-productions and territory-specific deals to scale Vice's IP globally — a move that will be shaped by macroeconomic context and market forecasts (Economic Outlook 2026).

Other executive hires: the roles that complete the picture

Beyond Friedman and Shah, Vice has been hiring across finance, production and business development. Rather than listing names, the pattern of roles tells the real story: Vice is assembling a leadership team that can operate like a mid-sized studio.

Key role types and what each signals

Head of Studios / Head of Production — Signals a move to own and scale production pipelines, centralize crews, and standardize budgeting for multi-format projects. Small studio tooling and remote-studio audio workflows (hardware and software) will become part of the ops playbook (studio-grade audio and remote-studio gear).
Head of Partnerships / Commercial Solutions — Shows a focus on integrated branded entertainment and directly monetizable brand relationships.
Chief Content Officer or SVP of Development — Indicates a coordinated slate strategy, where podcasts, digital series and long-form projects are conceived as multi-platform franchises.
Head of Distribution or Rights Management — Essential for licensing IP to global platforms and managing back-end revenue streams.
Senior Finance and Legal Hires — Critical for negotiating co-financing, tax-credit structures and protecting IP ownership. These hires drive the operational discipline needed to scale production without burning cash (operational playbooks).

What this leadership stack means for stakeholders

Vice's new executive class changes the player's expectations across four main groups: talent, advertisers, investors and competitors.

For creative talent and talent agencies

Deal structures will increasingly include IP and backend terms; talent should negotiate for ownership stakes or meaningful profit participation.
Expect more long-term commitments (multi-project overall deals) rather than one-offs; agencies can package talent to fit slate needs.
Creators should come with audience data and cross-platform strategies to increase bargaining leverage — and think about how their audience proof maps to conversion flows and local platform plays (conversion-first playbooks).

For advertisers and brand partners

Vice will offer integrated commercial solutions that blend branded content, episodic sponsorships and audience-targeted activations.
Brands should insist on measurable performance metrics and opt-in audience insights; creative flourishes will be paired with commerce KPIs.

For investors and acquirers

Watch for signs of recurring revenue and margin expansion: library monetization, licensing deals, and branded-content retainer models.
Vice's ability to own IP and scale production economics will de-risk the business and make it a more attractive partner for streamers or private equity.

For competitors

Expect Vice to pursue a differentiated niche — youth and countercultural perspectives brought into studio-grade formats. Competitors will need to match both the cultural credibility and the operational rigor Vice is assembling.

Actionable takeaways: how to engage with Vice in 2026

If you're a creator, brand or investor aiming to engage with Vice now, here are practical steps based on the company's new leadership priorities.

For creators and talent

Build pitch packages as franchises. Don't pitch a single episode. Include short-form spin-offs, a podcast arc, and monetization vectors (sponsorships, merch, live events).
Bring audience proof. Vice's new leaders will value measurable reach and engagement. Provide first-party data and cross-platform performance metrics — and package them so slate teams and brand partners can act (see live creator hub workflows).
Negotiate IP participation. Expect the CFO to prefer company-owned IP — push for shared ownership or backend points tied to long-term performance.

For brand partners

Ask for integrated KPIs. Combine brand lift with direct response metrics to justify premium pricing for integrated studio-grade projects.
Co-develop content. Early-stage collaboration — from concept to distribution planning — will yield better alignment and measurable outcomes.

For investors

Monitor pipeline quality. Look at slate commitments, rights ownership, and co-financing agreements as leading indicators of sustainable margins.
Insist on transparent unit economics. How much does a franchise cost to build and what are lifetime revenue assumptions across windows? Use forecasting frameworks to stress-test assumptions (forecasting & cash-flow tools).

What to watch in the next 12–24 months

Vice's new leadership choices make the next two years a clear testing ground. Here are the clearest signals to track:

First slate announced under the new leadership. Look for cross-platform design and integrated brand deals rather than standalone digital series.
Major distribution partnerships. Whether Vice cuts multi-territory licensing deals with streamers or signs output agreements will show its market positioning.
Talent deals and agency partnerships. High-profile overall deals with creators or talent agencies will confirm the strategy to build talent-first franchises.
Financial transparency and revenue mix. Quarterly reports or investor presentations revealing a shift to licensing, back-catalog revenue and studio margins will validate the rebuild.

How this fits broader 2026 media trends

The moves at Vice reflect wider industry trends in 2026:

Studio economics return. After years of fragmentation, mid-size studios that own IP and operate efficient production pipelines are regaining value.
Creator-to-studio pipelines. Platforms and studios are formalizing ways to convert viral creators into franchise owners with long-form output.
AI and production scale. AI-assisted editing, localization tools and generative workflows are reducing marginal production costs — enabling studios like Vice to stretch budgets further.
Hybrid monetization. The best-performing media companies now blend subscription licensing, ad revenue, branded content and live commerce.

Predictions: where Vice could be headed

Based on the new executive mix and 2026 market dynamics, here are three realistic scenarios for Vice over the next three years:

Studio-as-supplier. Vice becomes a go-to supplier of edgy, youth-focused IP for streamers and international broadcasters, monetizing via licensing and back-catalog sales.
Integrated brand studio. Vice develops a profitable branded-entertainment arm that combines creative authenticity with measurable marketing outcomes and recurring retainer revenue.
Hybrid content owner. Vice builds a library of owned IP that it exploits across podcasts, films, limited series and live events — enabling higher-margin direct monetization.

Risks and counterweights

No reboot is without danger. Key risks include:

Cultural dilution. Moving too rapidly toward studio economics may alienate the core audience that made Vice distinctive.
Capital intensity. Production scaling requires upfront investment; without disciplined unit economics, cash burn could resurface governance issues.
Competitive pressures. Streamers and established studios can outbid for premium IP or talent, squeezing margins.

Bottom line

Vice's new executive class — led by Joe Friedman and Devak Shah — is more than a leadership refresh. It is a strategic pivot toward building a repeatable, finance-savvy studio that can create, own and monetize edgy IP at scale. That matters to anyone who creates content, buys media or allocates capital in the entertainment economy: the company that can balance cultural credibility with studio rigor will win the middle ground between boutique creativity and industrial-scale production.

Actionable checklist: how to prepare for Vice's next phase

Creators: Package projects as multi-format franchises and secure first-party audience data.
Agencies: Structure deals that offer IP participation and backend clarity.
Brands: Demand integrated KPIs and co-development options with clear performance targets.
Investors: Evaluate the quality of the slate pipeline, rights ownership and recurring revenue projections.

Call to action

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newsworld

Contributor

Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.