San Francisco, Feb 23 (IANS): Vice Media chief executive officer (CEO) Bruce Dixon has said that the company will be laying off hundreds of employees and will cease publishing content to its website as it plans a shift toward social platforms.

Dixon informed about this development to employees in the memo obtained by The Washington Post, adding that the impacted workers will be notified early next week.

"As part of this shift we will no longer publish content on vice.com, instead putting more emphasis on our social channels as we accelerate our discussions with partners to take our content to where it will be viewed most broadly," Dixon said.

"Regrettably, this means that we will be reducing our workforce, eliminating several hundred positions. This decision was not made lightly, and I understand the significant impact it will have on those affected," he added.

In the memo, the CEO noted that Vice Media is 'no longer cost-effective' for the company to distribute its digital content the way it had done earlier.

Vice Media has now joined this long list of publishers who have had to lay off employees in recent months.

The Messenger, a startup news outlet, shut down last month. Business Insider cut 8 per cent of its staff, and BuzzFeed stated that it would slash 16 per cent of its workforce as it plans a new strategic direction.

Last year, Vice Media laid off more than 100 employees as part of restructuring its global organisations, along with shutting down its Vice News Tonight broadcast.