My first reaction was sticker-shock Vice spent <i>that much money</i> on Refinery29 given both companies are struggling with profitability.<p>Then, as I read it's mostly an all-stock deal and zoomed out to the investors it added a lot more perspective.<p>Vice and Refinery29 are both more like media pawns than media pillars. Vice's major equity owners include Disney, TPG (a private equity company from Texas that owns McAfee), and A&E (owned by Disney) - so Disney and TPG. Refinery29's major equity owners include WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T), the Discovery Channel, and a random private equity company.<p>At a high level, this acquisition is like a few financier and mega-corporation kids in the same sandbox playing a game of toy soldiers.<p>This doesn't really mean anything about Vice's or Refinery29's editorials or whatever, it's just a total mindfuck to look at these "behind the scenes" ownership structures and think about how that relates/juxtaposes with the companies that are owned.