Early life and education

Shane Smith was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1969. He attended the Lisgar Collegiate Institute and later graduated from Carleton University with a degree in English literature and political science.

Career

Founding VICE

Smith founded VICE along with Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes as the youth magazine Voice of Montreal in 1994. After being acquired in 1999, Smith and his co-founders bought VICE back, and moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2001. Initially publishing print articles based on offbeat alternative culture, VICE moved to creating news content and social criticism on multiple media platforms in the mid-2000s. Smith remains an owner of the company, and The New York Times has described Smith as "a cross between a punk rocker and Fortune 500 Executive".

VICE CEO

In 2006, on the advice from the company’s creative director Spike Jonze, VICE Media began expanding into digital video. This led to a massive expansion of VICE into new channels, including a partnership with Intel in 2010 for The Creators Project, as well as deals with partners like Viacom, YouTube and HBO, led by Smith.

In April 2013, VICE started a new series with HBO, VICE, where Smith and other VICE correspondents cover news stories from around the globe. The show's second season won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series or Special. The show was picked up for two more 14-episode seasons by HBO in May 2014, which will air in 2015 and 2016. Based on the success of the weekly show, in 2015 HBO and VICE announced an expanded deal that includes a daily news show on HBO Now premiering in 2016, 32 VICE-produced specials over four years, and expanding the existing show from 14 to 35 episodes a year.

2015 saw a slate of new deals for VICE, including partnerships with Verizon, Rogers Communications, Live Nation, Spotify and Snapchat, where VICE was a launch partner for Snapchat's “Discover” platform.

In June 2014, it was reported that Time Warner was negotiating to acquire a minority stake in VICE Media; among the company's plans were to give Vice Media control over the programming of HLN—a spin-off network of CNN which had recently struggled in its attempts to re-focus itself as a younger-skewing, social media-oriented news service. However, the deal fell through as the companies were unable to agree on a proper valuation, and VICE Media partnered with A&E Networks for a 10% minority stake in VICE Media for $250 million, keeping VICE Media independent. The following April, it was announced that A+E's H2 will be rebranded as VICELAND, a lifestyle channel aimed at millennials. VICELAND will launch February 29. Disney added to its indirect stake through A&E with two $200 million investments in November 2015 then a week later in December for a roughly 10% stake to assist in funding programming and growth.

Smith, in interviews, has mentioned the possibility of VICE going public, saying in a 2015 interview: “There hasn’t been a media company like this to go public in 15 years…the markets would love it.”

Journalism

As a journalist Smith has traveled to locations such as North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia, and Greenland, initially for the 2006 online TV series VICE Guide to Travel. Smith has continued to serve as a correspondent for VICE, appearing in online content as well as the host of VICE’s HBO show and VICE Special Reports.

In 2015, Shane Smith accompanied US President Barack Obama as part of the president's first historic visit to a federal prison, interviewing the President along with five non-violent drug offenders at El Reno Prison. He also conducted the first public interview with the Eagles of Death Metal following the 2015 terrorist shooting at their show at the Bataclan in Paris, France that left 90 dead.

Personal life

Smith currently resides in Tribeca, New York with his wife, Tamyka, and his two daughters Martina and Piper. Canadian Business placed him on "Canada's Richest People" in 2015, claiming his net worth to be at $1.27 billion.

Filmography

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• 2006: VICE Guide to Travel (writer, correspondent)
• 2007: "Heavy Metal In Baghdad" (executive producer)
• 2009: White Lightnin' (screenplay)
• 2011: "The VICE Guide To Everything" (executive producer)
• 2013-Present: Vice (writer, correspondent)
• 2013-Present: "VICE News" (TV Series documentary) (executive producer)
• 2014: "Fishing Without Nets" (executive producer)
• 2014: Shot: The Mick Rock Documentary (executive producer)
• 2015: "The Gangs of El Salvador" (executive producer)
• 2015: "Contamination Nation" (executive producer)
• 2016: "The Bad Batch" (executive producer)

Awards

Smith’s work on VICE’s HBO show won him an Emmy in 2014, as well as a number of environmental awards for his work covering global warming in Greenland, Antarctica and beyond. He has also been honored with a Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication, and an LA Press Club Award, and two Peabody awards for serving as executive producer of VICE News' documentaries The Islamic State and Last Chance High.

• VICE - Ranked Number 3 Most Innovative Media Company by Fast Company
• VICE - Ad Age Magazine A-List 2010 (first free publication to be recognized)
• VICE - Ad Age's Publishing Company of the Year 2013
• VICE on HBO - Environmental Media Association Nominee 2014, Reality Television, "Greenland is Melting"
• VICE on HBO - Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special 2014
• 2014 Brand Genius Award Winner
• 2014 Knight Innovation Award
• VICE News - Peabody Award, "The Islamic State"
• VICE News - Peabody Award, "Last Chance High"
• VICE - 2015 Environmental Media Association Award, "Our Rising Oceans"
• Advertising Age Creativity 50 2015 All Stars
• 2015 Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication
• 2015 Los Angeles Press Club Public Service Award In Journalism

[ Source: Wikipedia ]